]]>http://www.celebuzz.com/2014-05-16/jared-padalecki-posts-cw-upfronts-all-stars-selfie/feed/1Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are Cute on the Set of ‘Supernatural’http://www.celebuzz.com/2014-03-25/jensen-ackles-and-jared-padalecki-are-cute-on-the-set-of-supernatural/
http://www.celebuzz.com/2014-03-25/jensen-ackles-and-jared-padalecki-are-cute-on-the-set-of-supernatural/#commentsWed, 26 Mar 2014 00:00:29 +0000http://www.celebuzz.com/?p=15094079Check out them Winchester boys! Jensen Ackles and Jared Padaleckiwere spotted on the Vancouver set of their hit show, Supernatural, yesterday (March 24), looking just as handsome as ever.

The boys shared a few laughs in between takes while sipping on their iced coffee. Also, I’m pretty sure that Jared is pretending to pee on Jensen at one point. Ahh, fake brother love. While Jared clearly loves Jensen, he was not loving Kim and Kanye’s Vogue cover.

The actor took to Twitter this weekend to share his thoughts on the April cover.

Not that I’m a Vogue reader, but, really?? Kim Kardashian? I thought it was supposed to be a magazine about class and style???

Launch the gallery to check out all the photos of Jared and Jensen on set. Are you guys digging this season of Supernatural? I’m currently a few season behind, so don’t spoil anything for me! But even I have to say, Destiel for life.

Today, the CW network announced early pickups for the 2014-15 season, including freshman hits Reign and The Originals.

The Vampire Diaries heads into season five (and more Katherine than yours truly signed up for), Arrow (and its delicious Steven Amell) into season three and fan favorite Supernatural returns for its tenth season.

“This season we’ve had great success with our new hit series The Originals paired with Supernatural, giving us our best Tuesday nights in years,” CW president Mark Pedowitz said in a statement. “The Vampire Diaries is #2 in its time period in the young adult demos, and with Arrow continuing to gain among young men, and Reign growing its time period, we now have strong nights on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

“I’m very pleased to announce early pickups for all five series, and let our fans know they’ll have more great drama to look forward to next season.”

Arrow, surprisingly, is the network’s most watched series, with 3.9 million viewers. It’s #1 in its time slot among men 18-34.

]]>http://www.celebuzz.com/2014-02-13/cw-renews-the-vampire-diaries-reign-and-more/feed/0Things You Need To Know About Day 4 Of Comic-Com 2013http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-07-22/things-you-need-to-know-about-day-4-of-comic-com-2013/
http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-07-22/things-you-need-to-know-about-day-4-of-comic-com-2013/#commentsMon, 22 Jul 2013 05:22:38 +0000http://www.celebuzz.com/?p=14988686Supernatural Gets Its Own Spin-Off

Yes, there’ll be more from the popular CW drama. Supernatural‘s executive Bob Singer has confirmed that a spin-off is currently in the words. Find out which character will be leading that project up on TVLine.

The AMC drama will be airing the last episodes of its final season this fall and the cast took to Comic-Con 2013 to show new footage from its big goodbye. Get the scoop on Sunday’s panel — and the first few minutes of the first of the finale eight episodes — on Entertainment Weekly.

Community‘s reinstated showrunner swallowed his pride at Comic-Con and apologized to making rude comments about Season 4 — the one season he was not involved in — and writing a scathing review. See how Harmon plans to make up his absence on TVGuide.

]]>http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-07-22/things-you-need-to-know-about-day-4-of-comic-com-2013/feed/0Who To Expect At San Diego Comic-Con 2013http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-07-17/who-to-expect-at-san-diego-comic-con-2013/
http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-07-17/who-to-expect-at-san-diego-comic-con-2013/#commentsWed, 17 Jul 2013 20:00:04 +0000http://www.celebuzz.com/?p=14986365The annual event where the costumed folk rub elbow with Hollywood stars is almost upon us.

San Diego Comic-Con 2013 kick starts on Thursday and Celebuzz has your complete guide to how you can stalk track down your favorite celebrities. The four-day geek out will take place in the San Diego Convention Center and plenty of big names are slated to appear at TV and upcoming movie panels.

Here is the complete schedule of which star is set to appear where, below.

Now that Ackles, 35, who’s expecting his first child with wife, former One Tree Hill actress Daneel Harris, is expanding the family he needs a bigger pad — and the 5-bedroom, 6-bath Mediterranean in the beachside celeb enclave fit the steep bill, according to RealEstalker.

The private 4,698 square foot manse is set back far enough from the prying eyes of the paparazzi, and comes with a formal living room and dining room, stone and wood flooring, two fireplaces, large kitchen, and access to the swimming pool and terrace.

And that’s only the first floor.

The piece de resistance is the master suite takes over the entire second floor, complete with a fireplace, vaulted ceiling, private balcony, built-in hair and make-up vanity, steam shower, and soaking tub.

And outside, the parents-to-be will take in the gorgeous scenery of The ‘Bu from their lush green grounds, BBQ station and bar, or the shallow and deeps ends of their new L-shaped swimming pool and spa.

But don’t let his ridiculously good looks fool you. Ackles has actually been at this real estate game for a while, having unloaded his MUCH more modest Studio City, Calif. starter home for $700,000 in February, and sold a second home in the swanky L.A. neighborhood of Brentwood for a much more substantial sum of $3 million.

With all of that news, has anyone been able to keep up with what’s funny? (OK, some of the Biebs stuff was a little funny…) Fear not, Celebuzz has you covered.

We scoured the web to collect some of the funniest pop culture macros and videos the week had to offer.

Once you’ve perused our entire collection below, please share your own favorite memes! You can use the “Add Photo” button toward the bottom of this post, or you can use the hashtag #CelebuzzMemes on Twitter or Instagram to send it to us.

Dogster showed us what the cast of Girls would look like if they were replaced by dogs. Because, you know, the Internet…

Lastly, let us all remember that time Taylor Swift said Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were going to hell for making a joke at her expense. Womp womp.

Do you have a favorite meme you’d like to share? Submit it below, or use the hashtag #CelebuzzMemes on Twitter or Instagram to submit it!

That’s all we have for you this week. Remember to leave links to your favorite memes, videos, and gifs in the comments so that we may feature them in the future.

Celebuzz Single Player No Autoplay (CORE)
No changes are to be made to this player

]]>http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-03-07/what-internet-gold-made-us-laugh-this-week-6/feed/0What Did You Have To Say About This Week’s Hottest TV Shows?http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-02-13/what-did-you-have-to-say-about-this-weeks-hottest-tv-shows-2/
http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-02-13/what-did-you-have-to-say-about-this-weeks-hottest-tv-shows-2/#commentsWed, 13 Feb 2013 23:00:23 +0000http://www.celebuzz.com/?p=14325352

Happy Wednesday, TV watchers. A lot happened on our TVs this week: the Grammy Awards aired, President Obama gave his State of the Union address, and… oh, hey, some of our favorite CW shows were renewed!

Celebuzzrecaps many TV shows, but we also really love hearing from you. That is why we feature your comments about today’s best TV programs in a weekly feature called TV Recap: Fan Edition. If you would like to have your thoughts and opinions featured, simply leave comments on any of our TV recap posts. Then tune in next week to see if your comment has been selected.

“I loved it. I’m so glad the guys finally have something they can call their own. Sam enjoying the books while Dean reveled in the simple pleasure of a shower and geeking over a sword. I liked the way last weeks As Time Goes By led to this week’s Everybody Hates Hitler. Enjoyed Aaron’s reaction to the Winchester salting and burning the Nazi necromancer. We sometimes forget how odd their behavior is to the average citizen. The Thule are a great addition to the mythology. Good on Ben remembering to mention Cas and Kevin. Hope as the season progresses we get to see more of the new home” – Cindy Shufelt Givens, who loved this week’s Supernatural.

“my favorite show is #TVD , I’ve been a fan since the first episode. I can’t get enough of it , the entire cast is just amazing ! #shoutout” – Jasmin Hernandez, fan of The Vampire Diaries and of #shoutouts.

“Lazaro is so brave and inspiring! I can’t wait to watch him in the next round! Does anyone else think Steven Tyler looks more like a girl with natural dark hair instead of the wig?” – Jennah Blau, lover of American Idol and natural, dark hair.

And that’s all we have this week, folks. Remember, if you would like your thoughts featured in next week’s TV Recap: Fan Edition, simply leave comments on your favorite TV recap posts. See you next week!

Celebuzz Single Player No Autoplay (CORE)
No changes are to be made to this player

The CW’s Supernatural is gearing up for a major task on Wednesday’s episode, “Trial and Error.”

Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) have to decide which one of hem will tackle the three serious and heavenly — and potentially fatal– tests that may allow them to close the Gates of Hell forever. Naturally, the brothers are going to argue over which one will complete these “trials,” and with the stakes as high as needing to be able to kill a hellhound, a game of rock-paper-scissors just isn’t going to cut it!

On CBS’ The Amazing Race, teams of two race around the world, performing tasks to inch themselves closer to winning a million dollars. Well, there seems to be no argument that the Winchester brothers are the ultimate team of two, but unlike on The Amazing Race, Supernaturalhas never had a rule that if one brother took down whatever they were fighting that week, then next week it would be the other brother’s turn to do so.

So how can the show possibly make the decision on which Winchester is best suited to take on this enormous responsibility?

“We said last year that one of our goals was to establish building blocks to grow on, and now with our new hit Arrow and fan favorite Supernatural on Wednesday night, and the continued success of The Vampire Diaries on Thursday, we’ve been able to do that,” said network president Mark Pedowitz in a press release. “Not only do Arrow, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries perform well on-air, they’re also extremely successful for us both digitally and socially. I’m thrilled to have all three shows returning to our schedule next season.”

[inlinecmp pos="left" id="0" type="14315992:0"]Heading to its fifth season, The Vampire Diaries — which stars Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley– shows no signs of slowing down as it remains The CW’s highest rated series for adults 18-34 and women 18-34.

Likewise, Supernatural, which will be heading into its ninth season, continues to be a ratings juggernaut with a 15 percent increase in viewers since paired with superhero drama Arrow this year.

“A Jew, two Genti and a Golem walk into a bar” — how many do you think should make it out alive?

That should have been the joke or at least the line of the episode when The CW’s Supernatural took on Nazis. After all, a Golem is basically just a clay creature brought to life through magic, and everyone knows that using magic comes with consequences. Though the guy controlling the Golem in this case was one of the good guys, we saw just how easy it was for someone who knew the lore and the language to flip the switch and establish some of that control. But, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves yet.

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) went Nazi hunting on “Everybody Hates Hitler” with a little help from Veronica Mars’ Adam Rose. I have to admit I had no idea the history of Nazis included so much lore, so this was one episode in which I actually learned a lot.

I’ll admit that seeing the promotional photo for “Everybody Hates Hitler” prior to watching the episode itself, I assumed the Golem (John DeSantis) was going to be the bad guy Sam and Dean had to take down. Maybe, it’s because he towered over the boys in a scary way I never expected anyone to be able to do; maybe, it’s because I was having “Ghostfacers” creepy birthday basement flashbacks. But, the opening of the episode did nothing to dissuade those assumptions, as the Golem destroyed a Nazi camp with his bare hands.

Yes, yes, I know, anyone or anything who takes out Nazis is a good guy by default, but that didn’t change the fact that this was a Golem without a master in present day, and that can lead to a lot of (even if unintentional) destruction.

Dean and Sam investigated the spontaneous combustion death of a Rabbi (guest star Hal Linden), who had been researching Nazi necromancers and actually came across an old, though ageless foe of his from years past right before burning up. In digging into the Rabbi, Dean inadvertently stumbled across his grandson Adam (Rose), while Sam stumbled across the grandson’s Golem. And so the usual duo became a visually comedic foursome as they struggled to understand yet another new society, whose members were brought back from the dead. The juxtaposition between the Thule Society and the Men of Letters was subtextual only on this episode, but it was still something fascinating to consider. Though Dean and Sam may think all of the Men of Letters are gone, many must have thought the same about the Thule and were wrong. Who’s to say some Men of Letters can’t pop up down the line?

But what was mostfascinating about this episode was that even after the Golem killed the Nazi who had killed the Rabbi, Dean still felt he needed to be put down, too, so to speak. Aaron didn’t know how to reign in what was ultimately his, and the ease that the Golem exhibited when dragging the Nazi down the stairs and snapping his neck could spell major disaster if unleashed on other people. Aaron didn’t like someone else trying to tell him what he could or could not do, though, and managed to take control by the end of the episode to continue the work of the Judah Initiative, which was the legacy he hadn’t even realized he had rejected when he smoked his Golem owner’s manual in high school. It’s nice when they mature, isn’t it?

Though, I still kind of worry about the future of the “JI” if guys like Aaron are it, though I could not have more faith in Sam continuing the work of the Men of Letters. Watching Sam and Dean settle those headquarters was heartwarming because for once it seemed like they might actually have a real home with some peace and quiet. They’ve had places they could put their feet up before, but they were always still in the middle of the war zone, having to bathe their windows in bloody sigils just to keep the demons and monsters from showing up. With this bunker, the biggest problem seems to be where to park Baby out of sight. And maybe down the line they will have to address the fact that someone clearly has kept the lights and water on, and that person could be a foe. But for now, it was just nice to watch Sam dive into new books and Dean literally kick back and get some real relaxation in. Interestingly, the end moment reminded me a lot of when Sam and Dean ended up at Jared Padalecki’s house in ‘The French Mistake.”

Buzz Moments

OMG!: Max from Veronica Mars is all grown up and hitting on Dean!? Even though it turned out to be B.S., what will the crossover shippers think?

Thank you, TV gods.: Actually, thank you, Dean for spelling “Thule” for us. Nice to see you’re a bit more studious these days. And for saving us a 1.5 second Google.

Awk-ward: Sam sprinting up the library stairs was a moment out of a training montage in a sports film. WTH was that?

Hotness: Dean had a nice layer of scruff on his face tonight. I assume he couldn’t find any razors along with that bathrobe in the Men of Letters bunker, and I hope it stays that way.

Fab-u-lous: Though Ben Edlund pictured something with underground spiral staircases initially, the Men of Letters bunker that the show was able to build was just as magical. Anything that had more than one room would have been a palace to these guys, but this really was a palace. Watch them discover it again above.

Can. Not. Wait.: Is the lore on reanimation in this episode foreshadowing for the reanimation on “Remember the Titans?”

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 7 – I loved the parallels of Adam’s plight with the Winchesters’; he was expected to live up to a legacy for which he didn’t have proper training, and I, of course, loved the introduction to their new “home base.” Yet, there was a lot of lore in this episode that required further research, or a second watch of the episode, to fully comprehend. If you didn’t know that Golems were made of clay in real life Jewish lore, for example, it may have come out of nowhere for you in the episode.

What did you think of “Everybody Hates Hitler”? Let us know your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

All season long on The CW’s Supernatural, Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padaleckiand Jensen Ackles) have been on a mission to close the gates of hell forever by “decoding” special tablets with the word of God on them.

And after meeting their paternal grandfather, they both are better set up to do so. But, they’re also in more danger from important information falling into the wrong people’s (or demons’, as the case usually is) hands.

On “As Time Goes By,” Sam and Dean walked away with a very special key of knowledge and the instructions to toss into this safe house, so to speak, close the door, and walk away forever. But those instructions came from an old-timer, and not one they know, like their dad, so they’re not about to do everything by this guy’s book.

Nor should the audience assume that the advice of locking up the box and walking away should be foreshadowing on how the boys should handle the tablets. After all, when have we ever known them to just walk away from a fight?

“This all plays into the tablet business, but for instance, if Crowley got his hands on the angel tablet and could somehow decipher it, that would be a bad thing. The information that’s contained in this “Men of Letters” bunker, if it fell into the wrong hands, could be quite a powerful weapon against the boys. So it has to remain a secret and be guarded closely. As we go down the line for the rest of this year, hopefully next year, [those] sort of dramatic turns will take place because this is an important place,” Supernatural executive producer Bob Singer said.

In fact, finding this location, as the brothers planned to do at the end of “As Time Goes By,” sets them up with a pretty sweet arrangement that anyone in their position (a year on the run, a year in Purgatory —for Dean — and decades of living out of their trunk and seedy motels) would be loathe to just pass up.

“The boys need a place where they can decompress, have their bromance moments… It’s full of mysteries. It becomes kind of a home base for the boys. We’re really excited about it,” Singer said.

“When they go in there, it’s pristine. Everything’s been sort of hermetically sealed, as it was. It’s perfectly neat, and the only sign that someone had to get out of there in a hurry is a chess game in progress and an ashtray of cigarettes.”

But more than just a physical location, the meaning behind the “Men of Letters” is profound and really the driving force that sends the story on its next direction. Though Singer shared that there are no other remaining men from this society, the wealth of information that they left behind is extraordinary.

“If you took dad’s journal and multiplied it times 100, it’s got every source of information that would be interesting to the boys,” Singer said.

“Of course, when they get in there, Sam is fully immersed in the place, and Dean’s just happy to have his own room… He says to Sam, ‘If you want to do this geek stuff, that’s fine with me, but I’m just digging this’.”

According to Singer, “Sam is more the brain, and Dean is more the brawn,” and that difference of personalities will come into play greatly in the next part of the season arc in which they go after the tablets and deal with the trials.

“What you’ll what happens in subsequent episodes is another kind of conflict between them, but it’s not necessarily the conflict of ‘Do I want to do this?’ or ‘What’s my plans beyond closing the gates of hell?’ or anything like that. It’s a new kind of conflict. Like always, there’s always something going on!” Singer said.

“But I think it’s a good separation of character for the two of them that one has dreams—one allows himself to dream—and the other is much more fatalistic…I would hope that whenever we bring the curtain down, that Dean would find some peace. And if I have anything to say about it, he will.”

But as for whether or not the boys are about to encounter even more tablets to challenge their plans first? Singer confirmed they would not—at least not thisseason.

“We have the demon tablet, the angel tablet, and the Leviathan tablet; that’s about all the tablets we can handle!” Singer said.

Supernatural airs on Wednesday nights at 9 PM on The CW.

Are you excited to see the boys settle down a little bit? And how do you want to see Sam and Dean put their respective brains and brawn together to close the gates of hell? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Celebuzz Single Player No Autoplay (CORE)
No changes are to be made to this player

]]>http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-02-06/supernatural-ep-previews-the-guys-home-base-and-a-powerful-weapon-against-them/feed/0What Did You Have to Say About This Week’s Hottest TV Shows?http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-02-06/what-did-you-have-to-say-about-this-weeks-hottest-tv-shows/
http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-02-06/what-did-you-have-to-say-about-this-weeks-hottest-tv-shows/#commentsWed, 06 Feb 2013 21:00:58 +0000http://www.celebuzz.com/?p=14247361

Celebuzz recaps many TV shows, but we also really love hearing from you. That is why we feature your comments about today’s best TV programs in a weekly feature called TV Recap: Fan Edition. If you would like to have your thoughts and opinions featured, simply leave comments on any of our TV recap posts. Then tune in next week to see if your comment has been selected.

“I doubt that many Oklahomans out of the bunch the judges saw will make it pass Hollywood week. It is unfortunate; I did not notice the seriously talented OCU college students auditioning. American Idol should host their auditions at OCU in Oklahoma should they go back there, and the college should encourage the students to audition.Many former OCU students have gone on and pursued performance related careers. I attended many musicals at OCU, and the talent was excellent. Oklahoma was not represented in the best light last night. In the future, I strongly encourage the OCU, OU, OBU and other colleges performing arts majors to show up at the American Idol auditions and represent.” – AnotherOpinion, who has strong opinions about this week’s American Idol.

“I wanted to add that I’ve read comments from fans saying that Henry doesn’t fit canon because John said he was a mechanic from a family of mechanics. I thought about this and realized that it does fit canon if John is referring to his mother’s side of the family. Why couldn’t they be mechanics? As for the older fellow in the diner in 1973 who asks young John to say hello to his old man couldn’t that be a step father? John’s mom would have likely remarried after Henry was gone for so many years?” – Cindy Shufelt Givens, making a good point about Supernatural canon.

The CW’s Supernatural once made an off-handed remark about how it was “top priority” for the angels that John Winchester marry Mary Campbell and have their sons, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles). Then, the show went episodes without mentioning it again. You may have forgotten about it — you may have thought the show had forgotten about it — but “As Time Goes By” paid it off big time.

Note: Spoilers ahead if you have yet to watch Wednesday night’s episode, “As Time Goes By.”

When Henry Winchester (Gil McKinney) came tumbling out of the closet in Sam and Dean’s most recent motel room, only to reveal that 1.) He was looking for their father, because 2.) He was their grandfather, and 3.) There was a demon hot on his trail, looking for a magical box he carried across time, “As Time Goes By” seemed to be just another one-off episode that was going to drive home how we can’t change our pasts, and our futures are destined, whether we like that or not. But then, things got veryinteresting.

It turned out that Henry Winchester was a “Man of Letters”– he was a scholar of literature, and more importantly, spells. He dealt with supernatural beings, but from a more educated (according to him and his time) standpoint than the mere “ape-like” hunters. When the boys stepped back to really understand the weight of all of that, this episode became so much more about vanquishing a demon who was almost as strong as Lucifer. Though John had grown up believing his father had walked out on him and his mother when he was just a kid, in truth the patriarch of the Winchester clan had zapped himself to the future with a blood sigil in order to keep the important item out of this demon’s grasp. He went looking for his son in the future, assuming he had been brought up with the same “Man of Letters” studies; after all he was a legacy. But when he got there, he found only his two grandsons, angry and aggressive staring back at him.

…Oh yeah, and he found some very advanced technology, which really just made him fill Castiel’s (Misha Collins) shoes in the “confusion leads to chuckle-worthy one-liners department”

Though Dean fell in line behind his father and therefore hated his grandfather immediately just because of the image he grew up with in his head, he of course ended up helping Henry on his mission. Even when Henry decided it would be better suited if he just zapped himself back to the 1950s to stop the demon before she was able to ride his coattails to the future, thereby potentially changing Sam and Dean’s entire existence. In the end, he and Henry even teamed up to trick the demon. And though it cost Henry his life, setting the course of John’s life back in the 50s in motion, it also set up a new story for Sam and Dean to dig further into the “Men of Letters” legacy and what other kind of greatness they have within them.

Supernatural always delivers creative bad guys or monsters or demons of the week, and this week was no different (a demon being able to compel a victim to show her what they had seen was insanely clever, and I kind of wish the show had thought about and used that years earlier). But what really set “As Time Goes By” apart was the profound line of thought it inspired around the Winchester blood line, as opposed to the Campbell blood line. John, and later his sons, got into hunting ultimately because of Mary. Her family was from that stock, and when she was killed by the Yellow Eyed Demon, John wanted revenge. And through a roundabout way, learned enough about the supernatural to go after it. But it was always his destiny to fight the supernatural; he just got off-track before he even knew it. His father time-traveling to 2013 (“Guess the Mayans were wrong!”) and getting killed there meant John grew up without ever knowing the truefamily business and therefore creating a slightly different one for his sons.

Supernatural has said Sam and John were more alike than they ever realized before, but finally, through “As Time Goes By,” we see why. It was in John’s blood line to be a scholar, to pour over books and beakers, and now that Sam realizes that, he already seems much more content with the nature of his work than ever before. Sam tried to run away from his family business by going to college all those years earlier, but who knew he was really just running toward his actual legacy? Supernaturaldidn’t know it when they first created the show, but the fact that all the puzzle pieces fit so perfectly together now, eight years later, is what makes it stronger than ever.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: There were a lot of reasons for Dean to be wary of Henry, even if many of them turned out to be false reasons, but breaking Baby’s window? Not cool, dude. I would have held a grudge a lot longer than Dean did for that one!

Thank you, TV gods.: This is apropos of nothing, but I just loved how the title of the episode related to the song that Henry was whistling that ended up being a song that John also, unconsciously, would whistle around his kids. It interconnected everything in a sentimental way without being too over-the-top about it. Watch the scene again above.

Awk-ward: Did anyone notice the motel cleaning lady hovering outside the door when Sam and Dean were cuffed together inside? What do you think she thought was going on?

Hotness: A demon who can compel memories and images out of other people’s minds? Wish I had thought of that! That’s ultimate power.

Fab-u-lous: Henry’s secret club pin, so to speak, was not only dapper on his old-timey suit and tie, but it resembled the devil’s trap just closely enough to reveal his true knowledge while still giving something so dark a more elegant look.

Can. Not. Wait.: Was the warning to Dean and Sam to toss that box away and never look back some kind of foreshadowing for what’s to come with the tablets? Just what will they find when they visit the so-called “safe haven” Henry’s old pal told them about?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 7 – Honestly, I would have graded this higher because of the amazing backstory we were given, but there was far too much talk about wanting to change the past for an episode that came seasons after this show explained definitively that such a thing is impossible. Or did no one take Castiel’s words seriously when he showed Dean that glimpse into 1974?

What did you think of “As Time Goes By” and are you happy with how the Winchesters’ lives turned out, versus what Henry was fighting so hard for their lives to be instead? Let us know your thoughts on the episode in the comments below.

It has been known for a long time that the Winchester Brothers of The CW’s Supernatural were destined for their life fighting demons and monsters — and even at times, angels.

But for a long time, they — and the audience by extension — believed it was solely because of their mother, Mary, who came from a long line of hunters and was later killed by a demon, setting their father on a path of revenge.

What “As Time Goes By” is out to show us all, though, is that their destiny cuts so much deeper than that.

On “As Time Goes By,” Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) are shocked to see a man show up in their hotel room — a man who claims to be their grandfather, Henry Winchester (Gil McKinney). He time-traveled using a blood sigil that was supposed to take him to his son, John. But since John is dead, it dropped him at the feet of his next of kin. Literally.

“We spent time with the other side of the family, and we wanted to bring it full circle,” Supernatural executive producer Bob Singer said during a special screening and Q&A in Los Angeles, Calif.

“If you remember the Cupid episode [“My Bloody Valentine”], where we said, ‘This was ordained’ that [John and Mary] should get together, now we know why.’ It was supposed to be something different…but they became hunters by necessity.”

“As Time Goes By” explores just how connected Henry Winchester — and therefore his son John — was to the world of the supernatural, because Henry needs help stopping a demon who is a “Knight of Hell.” But if you’re expecting one big, happy family reunion, you’ve been watching the wrong show.

“John was a product of the fact that he didn’t have a father growing up. And as the first of many a bad luck for him, he always sort of held a grudge against his father because he thought his father deserted him,” Singer said.

“Dean is always in defense of his dad, and John made the ultimate sacrifice for Dean, so I think he takes this stuff a little more personally than Sam at times, and that’s something you’ll see in this…episode.”

It doesn’t help that Henry isn’t the warmest guy toward Dean and Sam, either. There is contention between Dean and his grandfather because Henry doesn’t really approve of the way his grandsons were ultimately raised—as hunters, rather than what he considers to be their “legacy” (but about which they really had no way of knowing).

“He’s a guy who’s more elegant and learned and educated,” Singer said of the contrast between Henry and the boys.

Blood is blood, though, and in true Winchester form, the brothers may not like having to help this guy they don’t know, let alone trust, but they will do it for the greater good. And in spending time with their dear ole granddad, they will learn a lot about their paternal blood line that sets up a “whole new chapter” for them in the back half of this season.

We don’t want to say too much about that new chapter until “As Time Goes By” has aired, to avoid spoiling the major reveals. But let’s just say his time with Henry Winchester gives Sam a deeper understanding of his purpose in life. He may have been reluctantly dragged back into this “family business” when Dean got out of Purgatory, but now he’s in it to stay. And his drive is newly rejuvenated.

“When we get into the whole ‘closing the gates of hell,’ that becomes a real raison d’etre for Sam. I think it’s really revenge motivated; it’s about everything that killed their mom, killed their friends, and all that. I think Sam would see that there’s a certain amount of closure if they could actually close the gates off. I think he in the back of his mind thinks there’s a normal life out there. And in a way, Dean’s on board with that; he’d like to see him happy, but they have this one thing to do,” Singer said.

Supernatural airs on Wednesday nights at 9 PM on The CW.

Why are you most excited to finally dive into the Winchester side of the family tree? Let us know in the comments below.

Supernaturalhas built a series eight seasons strong around two main characters, and that is how Executive Producer Bob Singer likes it.

“They’re traditional loners, and we wanted to keep it that way… Part of the appeal is they’re these ‘Last Men Standing,'” Singer said of Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) during a special Q&A in Los Angeles, Calif. on Tuesday.

But, that doesn’t mean that the show is ignoring the appeal of some of their recurring players and guest stars.

Of course, Castiel (Misha Collins) will be back sooner, rather than later.

“He’s really crucial to the tablet story,” Singer said. “He’s going through a trial of his own that’s personal. Naomi is very unhappy with him; Crowley is very unhappy with him; and he is a confused angel right now.”

But additionally, Felicia Day, whose immediate fan-favorite second episode, “LARP and the Real Girl,” just aired last week was announced to be returning for a third guest appearance (her second this season) before the end of the year.

“We love Felicia!” Singer said, before noting that they are just starting to break the end of the season in the writer’s room and details on her episode are still being worked out.

Additionally, Ty Olsson and Liane Balaban both played heavily into the first half of the season’s “flashback arc” to set up conflicts and relationships Sam and Dean experienced without each other in the year they were apart. Singer confirmed that the flashbacks are finished for the season, but that doesn’t mean so are Olsson and Balaban’s times on the show.

“He was really fighting the good fight of trying not to give into his blood lust, and I think Dean having to cut the tie is a hard thing for him. So, we’ll explore that — what he’ll be going through — we never felt that story was totally ended. It’s probably not great drama to end a whole arc on a phone call!” Singer said of Olsson.

When it comes to Balaban, Singer was less willing to commit to a how and a when of a return, only noting that “maybe” she’d reappear down the line.

“We think she’s a really valuable character; we liked her a lot; and she certainly creates a new complication in Sam’s life. Again, we’re just kind of doing the end of the season now in the room, and I know that we’ve talked about bringing her back, but we don’t have anything specific.”

Supernatural airs on Wednesdays at 9PM on The CW.

Which of these guest stars’ returns make you most excited? Let us know in the comments below!

Calling all avid TV watchers and fans! It’s time to step up to the plate and support your No. 1 show.

Celebuzz has compiled a list of our favorite series and we want to ask the ultimate question.

Which Celebuzz fave TV show has the most dedicated fans? We know it’s so hard to choose.

Are you a Gleek? A Vampire Lover? Want to see the “A” team go down? Or are you hoping for Emily’s ultimate payback? Maybe you’re into traveling the nation battling ever-changing demons? Or are the entanglements at Seattle Grace tugging on your heartstrings?

The CW’s Supernatural does meta better than almost any show on television right now, but admittedly after the last time they tapped into such a thing (with “Season 7, Time for a Wedding!”) I was skeptical that they could return to the idea of a fandom without insulting, well, all fandom in general.

Felicia Day assured me that “LARP and the Real Girl” was a celebration of those who dedicate their weekends (and spare cash) to role playing, and after viewing the episode for myself, Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) weren’t the only ones converted into thinking this is a pretty fun lifestyle.

The basic plot of “LARP and the Real Girl” was that Dean and Sam had to enter the world of LARPing after two players died mysterious deaths. As luck would have it, Charlie (Felicia Day) happened to be a key part to the game, and they relied on her to help deliver them answers. Though she was reluctant to help them at first (you know, because the last time she helped them she had to go on the run and change her name), it was soon evident that there was no avoiding it. Besides, she could be the hero in the real world again, and that’s a victory better than being the hero in a game.

Dean entered the world of Moondoor, acting as the Queen’s “handmaiden” while Sam did his usual research thing in the “tech tent.” They both effectively came to the same conclusion: that the Celtic tree tattoo on the victims was actually a mark of pain to come. But, it was Charlie who really got the details when she was kidnapped by a fairy who had been summoned by one of the players to take out his competition.

Now, you might think that portraying one LARPer as someone who has so lost touch with reality and what’s important that he would actually kill real people just to win a game might be just as concerning as having an overzealous fan kidnap and drug the “character” she has a crush on (I will just never get over how far Becky fell). Yet, in actuality, it seemed to have the opposite effect this time. “LARP and the Real Girl” displayed all of the passion one must need to devote so much time and energy to such a lifestyle, but it also spotlighted the sense of community, belonging, and positive escapism that seems to be key in that world — and in the world of the Supernatural, as well — on-screen and off.

Think about it: there is a heaviness looming in the boys’ mission with these demon (and now angel) tablets, but diving into the world of Moondoor, diving into this case in general, allowed them to escape and have a little fun for a change. Things are still bound to get very dark very fast, for the Winchesters and the audience by extension, but it’s when you know that’s coming that it is nicest to just push it aside for a little while.

“LARP and the Real Girl” was extremely touching, mostly because of the relationship that has evolved between Dean and Charlie. They’ve both clearly been outsiders, and they’ve found their own unique ways to cope and places where they feel like they fit in, but Dean seemed to learn a lot from Charlie in this episode, even going so far as to let his hair down (so to speak) and not worry too much about looking silly in a costume as he entered Moondoor.

But it was the way that Dean’s fearless heroism rubbed off on Charlie that makes this episode the most successful. Week after week, Supernatural asks us to watch two manly men fight demons, monsters, even angels at time. They come away with a few cuts and scrapes that never permanently scar, and the way they’re able to take them without backing down makes the audience swoon. I’m guilty of that, too; I admit it. But the women have always come and gone, more often than not as sacrifices the story had to make to keep the Winchesters going.

Until Charlie. Consider this my official plea to keep her around — at least as recurring as Kevin or Castiel. Charlie knows the dangers out there now, and she has made her peace with them. She has offered to help Dean and Sam, should they need her. And let’s be honest, why wouldn’t they need her? She’s a killer computer hacker, but in “LARP and the Real Girl,” she proved to be just as badass with a sword and a magic book, too. And television needs more heroines like that.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: So the fairy kidnaps Charlie, and she is turned on enough by the dark act that she makes out with her? I mean, I get that the fairy didn’t want to kidnap her, but still; that’s a special kind of Stockholm syndrome!

Thank you, TV gods.: I just love it when Supernatural explores Dean’s love and knowledge of pop culture. And they did it again on this episode, kind of subtly, by using a Lancelot/Merlin comparison to help him understand a key relationship in Moondoor. They did it again later with “50 Shades of Gray”…but I try to ignore that that’s even a thing.

Awk-ward: Did that Celtic tree tattoo remind anyone else of the way the hunter’s mark spreads on The Vampire Diaries?

Hotness: Swordplay is sexy! Seeing Dean go at it with the fairy’s “dark master” was a new kind of fight sequence for this show and one that was too short, if you ask me!

Fab-u-lous: Sam’s ponytail. Did you catch it at the end there, when Dean was giving his Braveheart speech? If you missed it, catch it in our clip above. It is… screencap-worthy, for sure!

Can. Not. Wait.: How will Dean and Sam’s new fantasy skills help them with future cases!?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 9 — From the amazing one-liners (like Charlie’s version of Liz Lemon’s “Blerg” to her telling the fairy to “Call me…maybe”), to the unique methods of murder, to still repairing Sam and Dean’s relationship, this was a one-off episode at its best.

What were your favorite moments from “LARP and the Real Girl?” Let us know in the comments below!

The last we saw Charlie (Felicia Day) on The CW’s Supernatural, she was high-tailing it out of town with a one-way bus ticket and a new crop of scarring memories thanks to helping the Winchesters take on Dick Roman.

The computer genius and all around Geek Girl extraordinaire proved to be of great help to Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) once before, when they needed someone with her expertise to hack Roman’s computers. It has been over a year since the Winchesters have crossed paths with Charlie, but soon enough, they are going to need her particular brand of knowledge again when they stumble upon the death of a couple of LARPers.

“She has changed a little bit in she’s a little bit less innocent and more guarded… She’s a girl who’s kind of been on the run, so there are some issues! But she does have the same sparkle that she did when we last saw her,” Day said about her character to Celebuzz.

And wouldn’t you know it? Charlie has extensive knowledge about that world — and the particular game the two were playing when they were killed.

“I think Charlie’s a really smart girl, and whenever she would see the Winchesters, she’d probably expect there’s a danger. I don’t know that she’s thrilled [to see them], but certain circumstances collide their lives again… I do think she enjoys them — the guys — as people, though. I think there’s a really interesting dynamic between her and especially Dean in this episode that people are going to really enjoy.”

The last we saw Charlie and Dean together, he was in her ear, giving her flirting tips when she needed to sneak into her boss’ office. They parted ways with him calling her the “little sister [he] never wanted.” This time around, things get elevated when Dean has to go undercover, so to speak, in the world of LARPing — a world in which Charlie is kind of the Queen.

“There’s almost a budding camaraderie between the two that really has some fun moments during this episode. I just think her not being shy and not backing down and meeting people toe-for-toe [allows] for good chemistry with Dean,” Day said.

When Day got the call from Supernaturalproducers asking her to reprise her fan favorite role, the LARPing season story had already been broken and was in the press. Day admitted to following the early media on the show’s eighth season. And though she didn’t know if Charlie would be called back specifically for that episode, she certainly hoped that would turn out to be the case.

“Charlie really is an authentic fan girl without becoming a cliche. I identify with her as a person just because she loves what she loves, and she isn’t apologetic about it,” Day said.

“I love the tone of the episode because there’s a great love of LARPing in it. Really, it’s just a celebration of the LARPing community, when at the same time, obviously there’s high stakes and supernatural elements. It definitely builds throughout, and Charlie is an integral part of that.”

Whether or not you go into “LARP and the Real Girl” knowing anything about the Live Action Role Play lifestyle, Day felt the episode does a tremendous job at introducing and celebrating the lifestyle for all kinds of viewers. She called it an “event” and noted that the details from her custom-fitted Renaissance costume, to the swords and other weapons, to the background players all add layers that will make for a fun multipleviewing experience.

“The majority of the background players were real LARPers who wore their own outfits that were on par with the ones that were our costumes that the wardrobe department made. There is an authenticity that I think really shines through in the details. If you look closely in the background on your third or fourth watch, you’ll notice a lot of details that are really, really fun and that explain why people love LARPing,” Day said.

“There is a lot of care and detail taken that I, as a Renaissance nerd, really appreciated. Having a crown put on my head in a legitimate way — that’s my new headshot!” Day said.

Supernatural airs on Wednesday nights at 9PM on The CW.

Are you excited to see Charlie return? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

All season long on The CW’s Supernatural, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) have been working side-by-side but not seeing eye-to-eye. Finally, on the 2013 winter return, the brothers were forced to talk it out and make the tough decisions on who they’d put first going forward.

Not surprisingly, they chose each other. But it wasn’t without a whole lot of heartache first.

Poor Samandiriel (Tyler Johnston). We thought Sam had it rough, being manipulated by his brother into thinking Amelia (Liane Balaban) was in trouble on the winter finale. We thought Castiel (Misha Collins) had it rough, being manipulated by Naomi (Amanda Tapping) ever since returning from Purgatory. But, Samandiriel was captured by Crowley (Mark Sheppard) and being tortured and experimented on by one of his minions.

The point was to see what made the angels tick. And through some kind of early-surgery-lobotomy device, the part of Samandiriel that acted as a programming board was tapped into. Crowley could potentially reset him to carry out other plans, all while learning what the angels had in store for him and others like him.

Of course, the more pain Samandiriel was in, being an angel and all, the more went wrong in the world. Freak occurrences like tornadoes and spontaneous bush fires cropped up, but not before Samandiriel could send a distress call to Naomi, who used Castiel once again to step in and save him.

Castiel called upon Dean for help, and the two of them brought Kevin (Osric Chau) into the mix, but he was too focused on decoding the tablet to be of much help. We got a good, hard look at what Kevin in college would have been like, unshaven, pulling all-nighters to study for tests that in the end didn’t really matter. Only this time, what he is studying makes all of the difference. If the demon tablet has a way of shutting the demons back in Hell forever, well, the Heaven tablet has similar instructions for angels. And Naomi will not have that. But, we’ll get there in a second.

Since Kevin was no help, and Garth (DJ Qualls) and Mrs. Tran (Lauren Tom) were nowhere to be found, Castiel dragged Sam back into things, even though he had reconnected (and yes, physically) with Amelia (Liane Balaban). The three of them headed to Crowley’s warehouse to spring Samandiriel, who unfortunately, had been “read” by Crowley already. With the help of some demon bombs, Castiel got Samandiriel out to safety, but the angel-turned-delivery boy revealed that Crowley knew about Naomi and the angel tablet. This was news to Castiel, of course, but he didn’t have time to process it. Naomi zapped him upstairs to her office to tell him to take Samandiriel out and simply tell the Winchesters that the kid was compromised.

And even though Samandiriel had warned Castiel that “they’re controlling us,” Castiel did it anyway. He has been trying to pay his penance all season long, and it just feels unfortunate that his way to do so is to listen to this so-called higher power. We have seen Naomi interact with no one else but Castiel. And every time she’s with him, she’s manipulating him, so we have no reason to believe she’s one of the good guys. Sure, any angel should worry about the tablet if it means they won’t be free to roam, but she seems obsessively controlling about it. Angels fall; just look at Lucifer. I don’t trust her for one second!

This episode was book-ended nicely by scenes of the brothers having their heart-to-hearts. In the opening, Dean and Sam were basically having it out from the remnants of Benny (Ty Olsson) and Amelia. They each had to make a choice on this episode. And after some soulful moments, they closed with a scene of them together, in this fight against all odds and all others for as long as it takes.

While it was great that each brother got an element of closure, I have to admit I’d be sad to never see Benny again. On this episode, he was pretty much any guy who belongs in AA after falling off a wagon. And he reached out to Dean for help, and Dean told him help would be no more. Not because he didn’t want to help him, not because he didn’t still care about him or believe in him, not because he had been let down one too many times by an addict — but because he was choosing his biological brother over his “blood brother,” so to speak. It hurt both men greatly, but it might only make one completely backslide and return to his old fanged ways.

Sam, on the other hand, faced Amelia and the fact that he really did love her and could possibly build a real life with her. Don might be alive, but he was always going on the road, leaving her alone. And so far, she had been kept off the radar of the angels and demons (maybe Sam made her get an anti-possession tattoo in the “lost year,” even without telling her its full meaning), so she wasn’t going to up and die on him. The two came up with a plan to meet at the motel if they both wanted to be together. But when the fateful time came, only Amelia showed up. Sam gave into the fact that he and Dean had a lot on their plate and that it really was their plate. They both have a part to play, and now they’re finally on the same page and ready to go after it.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: I think Dean might have actually made a compromise here. He’s usually pretty stubborn, in that “big brother knows best” sort of way, but his call to Benny to say goodbye was a big step. He could have just continued to help his friend and hid it from his brother, but he didn’t. That’s growth. Even if it makes us sad to see Benny go.

Thank you, TV gods: Dean and Sam’s conversation about Amelia was the perfect brother moment, but the two of them sitting side-by-side in silence on the couch after was even better. They both knew the weight of their decisions, and they also knew what was in store for them, and they were both preparing and relishing in a few quiet, somewhat normal moments first.

Awk-ward: Did anyone else think Mrs. Tran was going to walk up behind Dean when he was trying to get Kevin’s attention by saying his mother was hot?

Hotness: Seeing Sam in bed was good, but too brief. Here’s hoping for an extended/deleted scene to hit the internet tomorrow. Or the DVD in a few months.

Fab-u-lous: Sam’s hair on this episode looked like he had stepped out of the salon minutes before every scene. Seriously, seedy motel shampoos cannot possibly give highlights and volume like that!

Can. Not. Wait.: Will Sam grow to resent his decision? And seriously, what is Naomi’s deal!?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 8

What did you think of “Torn and Frayed?” Let us know in the comments below!

The CW’s Supernatural left off on quite the cliffhanger. Not only was Castiel (Misha Collins) taken out of rotation for a little while, choosing to stay behind and keep an eye on an old hunter friend while Dean (Jensen Ackles) went after Benny (Ty Olsson), but Sam (Jared Padalecki) chased a goose named Amelia (Liane Balaban).

Though Dean was faking Sam out for the majority of the episode, in the end, Amelia actually did show up in front of Sam, forcing him to finally face his feelings for her. And Dean had to accept that his “blood brother” Benny disappointed him like so many before him. There was certainly a lot left unsaid between the brothers, and series executive producer Jeremy Carver reminded us the back half of the season still has to see the boys “having it out” regarding their different states of mind.

“It will happen in typical Supernatural fashion, though. It’s not like they’re sitting down and talking over tea!” Carver said when we caught up with him before hell-atus.

But before they can do that, they each have to deal with the weight of what’s been left hanging since “Citizen Fang.”

On “Torn and Frayed,” Sam meets with Amelia, who asks him to make a choice: stay with him or leave and never contact her again. Considering he walked out on her while she slept to rejoin his brother, it’s nice to see that they will both be getting closure — even if the particular kind might not make them both happy.

And of course, Castiel is back — within the first few minutes, too!

When Naomi (guest star Amanda Tapping) tells Castiel that Crowley (Mark Sheppard) is holding an angel captive, Castiel turns to Dean for help in rescuing the angel before Crowley learns all of their secrets. But Naomi has secrets of her own — and we can’t help but wonder how in line her motives might be with someone like Crowley.

Personally, we find Naomi and what she represents much scarier. These guys have gone up against Crowley before; they know how to handle him. But Naomi is new and unknown, and a question mark in a world like Supernaturalis something to be feared. After all, step one is to identify the thing you’re supposed to be hunting and then figure out how to take it down. But Naomi is using the Winchesters’ ally to give her information without them– or even really him– knowing. It’s the kind of sneak attack that seems like it will spell bad news.

Supernatural returns Wednesday at 9PM on The CW.

What are you most excited to see in the winter return? Let us know in the comments below!

Celebuzz Single Player No Autoplay (CORE)
No changes are to be made to this player

]]>http://www.celebuzz.com/2013-01-16/supernaturals-return-comes-with-secrets-and-some-closure-photos-video/feed/0‘Supernatural’ Recap: We See What We Want to See—Maybe Even in Memories?http://www.celebuzz.com/2012-12-06/supernatural-recap-we-see-what-we-want-to-see-maybe-even-in-memories/
http://www.celebuzz.com/2012-12-06/supernatural-recap-we-see-what-we-want-to-see-maybe-even-in-memories/#commentsThu, 06 Dec 2012 06:47:32 +0000http://www.celebuzz.com/?p=13444441

The Winchesters of The CW’s Supernatural have a familiar saying: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” They use it freely—whenever one of them isn’t quite ready to deal with a particularly complicated issue like “stopping” one’s brother back in the day or “icing” a vampire on Season 8.

But the Winchesters have never been particularly good at pushing such a thing down for too long.

Eventually it eats at them until that “bridge” comes to them. In “Citizen Fang,” Sam (Jared Padalecki) certainly followed the trend by having old hunter friend, Martin (guest star Jon Gries), track Benny (Ty Olsson). When Sam got a call that there was a vampire kill that seemed to have Benny’s name all over it, he and Dean (Jensen Ackles) were forced to deal with the situation.

Left to his own devices with Dean off hunting, Benny high-tailed it home to a small town in Louisiana. He looked up a relative– his great-great granddaughter Elizabeth (Kathleen Munroe), which became nice and awkward after Dean hit on her. He also took a job at a southern diner of sorts—the same job he had way back when, before he was a vampire pirate.

In that diner, Martin watched him have an uncomfortable encounter with an old patron who just happened to have his creepy eyes on Benny’s kin. This patron also just happened to end up killed outside the diner that night. But Dean wasn’t about to just “witch hunt” his old friend, he went to talk to Benny, who told him a tale of another vampire named Desmond from “back in the day” who was trying to get Benny’s attention.

Now, Dean was desperate to believe his friend was telling the truth, and looking Benny dead in the face seemed to be all he needed. Though Sam and Martin went after Benny, Dean went with him—to take on Desmond. Luckily for Dean, Benny didn’t betray or disappoint him but unluckily for Benny, he got a crash course in the Winchester lifestyle.

After killing Desmond, Dean warned him that he couldn’t stay—that there was no “home” anymore. Too many other vampires would come looking for him. Oh yeah, and Benny could barely control himself around the blood anyway—even when that blood was his “brother” Dean’s. But it wasn’t other vamps he had to worry about—it was Martin – who hoofed it back to the diner after being ditched by Sam (we’ll get to that in a minute) and used Elizabeth to get to him.

Benny tried really hard to control his anger and himself, so that he wouldn’t have to reveal what he was to either Elizabeth or Martin, but Martin knew enough about him already to know he wasn’t crazy. And all he wanted was Benny’s head on a stake. So Benny mulled it over for a few seconds before realizing just how defeated he was and laid his head down, literally.

Of course, it was just a trap, and he ended up releasing his vampire nature to take Martin out in the name of self-defense. Are we crazy to say that although, intellectually, Martin was making great points, we were thrilled to see him laying on the floor with his throat ripped apart because it meant Benny lived to see another day (and therefore another episode)? Are we even crazier to hope that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t Benny at all but Elizabeth who attacked Martin, protecting her family at all costs and creating an (admittedly soapy) extra complication down the line? Yeah, okay, we may have went too far with that last part…

What was so much more powerful than what Benny did to Martin, though, was the realization he seemed to have just seconds before making the decision: he couldn’t fight his fate. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t really have a choice. And now Dean should have no choice but to add him to the list of “things” he hunts. But will he? Considering he didn’t outwardly lie but still omitted exactly what went down with Benny to his brother, we’re sure just when Sam and Dean are on good terms again, Benny will pop back up. But it probably won’t be for awhile because Sam still has a lot to get over with his brother.

See, Sam received a text from Amelia (Liane Balaban) while hunting for Benny initially and high-tailed it over to her house. When he got there, though, she and her not-so-dead, now-also-not-so-ex were cozying up on the couch. Sam didn’t take a second to ponder his sanity, though we certainly did—after all, it was just a short year ago that he was scratching at his hand every two seconds. Calling the number back, he reached Dean—on one of their burner phones in Baby’s glove box. He swapped the numbers in Sam’s phone “just in case,” and it certainly came in handy for him here.

But the thing is: as much as he used it to get Sam off Benny’s trail, he also seemed to use it a little bit for Sam’s sanity. After all, Sam checked in on Amelia and saw she was doing well. It may still hurt that she can’t be doing well with him, but at least he wouldn’t have to worry about her, right?

Possibly but to be honest, we’re still not entirely convinced we can trust everything we see in Sam’s flashbacks. Call it being overly cautious because of his history, or call it reading too much into production style of shooting the specific flashbacks, but just because Amelia is a real person (for the record, we never doubted she wasn’t) doesn’t mean Sam’s relationship with Amelia was exactly how he chooses to remember it.

We’ll be finding out soon, though, as the last moment of the episode was her walking up to him in a bar, stating that she knew it was him outside her house. And the petrified look on his face promised he’d be crossing a very important bridge, too, come the January 2013 return.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: Who knew Martin had it in him not only to stand up to Dean but to physically knock him on his ass?

Thank you, TV gods: Even when about to rip out someone’s throat, Benny is so soulful, and Olsson deserves most of the credit for that. We cannot thank this show enough for bringing him back and showing such a different side to him!

Awk-ward: It’s always distracting when a show reuses recognizable guest stars in brand new roles, so we’re just going to pretend “Elizabeth” is actually the same woman from The Kids Are Alright. After the changeling debacle, she just picked up and moved south and started a new life!

Hotness: Is it just us or was Don the most level-headed, well-adjusted guy ever? It really put into perspective just how messed up Sam and Dean both are!

Fab-u-lous: Sam’s hair was particularly on point on this episode. Perhaps it was because he didn’t do any fighting—or even much hunting at all—but it was this perfect, unmoving fashion statement.

Can. Not. Wait.: What will happen when Sam has to confront Amelia after all this time!?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 8

What did you think of “Citizen Fang” and more importantly, how will you get through hell-atus!? Let us know in the comments below!

The CW’s Supernatural has paved the road to its holiday hell-atus with family obligations, flashes from the past (both in the form of returning characters and literal showcasing of memories), a new kind of brotherhood, and even a glimpse into the surreal world of cartoon deaths.

The show has somehow managed to keep its sense of humor, even amidst the most arguably dark situation thus far. Dean (Jensen Ackles) returned from Purgatory a more hardened warrior than even when he emerged from Hell with PTSD and a bond with a vampire that puts him on the outs with his brother Sam (Jared Padalecki). But Sam hasn’t been having a picnic either, pining for a girl and the life that could have been had he been able to give up hunting for good.

Or, is that just what the show wants you to believe? Supernatural‘s eighth season is toying with, and therefore challenging, our idea of reality in the Winchesters’ world. Dean and Castiel (Misha Collins) each remember Dean’s exit from Purgatory differently, after all; one very important angel has already admitted to manipulating Castiel; and Sam’s last recollection of his last year was so soft in style, we can’t help but question its truth.

So naturally, we didn’t want to go into the last episode before the new year, “Citizen Fang,” with a bunch of question marks. To clear things up and get all the goods, Celebuzz caught up with Supernatural showrunner Jeremy Carver.

“Speaking to this episode, there’s no question that where we started in the season…we’re very much at the moment here where certain things have to be dealt with, and how specifically Dean deals with this is really the heart of Episode 9,” Carver said.

“The episode is very jam-packed, and it’s very up and down as to how the boys are reacting to each other. Just when you think they may come together, there’s conflict. It’s very, very emotional.”

Sam has put an older hunter acquaintance, Martin Creaser (guest star Jon Gries), on the case of tailing Benny (Ty Olsson) to make sure he keeps his nose clean, as he promised Dean he would. When Sam gets wind from Martin that there was, in fact, a vamp kill, he implores his brother to head down there and check it out, despite Dean’s reservations of the source. Remember, last we saw Martin, he was locked up in a mental institution (In 2010’s “Sam, Interrupted”). So it certainly looks like Supernatural will be delivering answers on the “what’s reality” and “who’s sanity can and can’t be trusted” sooner, rather than later.

“Fans who have that question, that’s going to be addressed in Episode 9, as well,” Carver said of whether or not we could trust the memories we’ve seen unfold through flashback.

“Whether or not Martin’s better now is open to interpretation when you meet him [but] with what the boys are dealing with, they get to a certain point where crazy guy in the episode might be the most sane guy in the episode.”

Benny being in the middle once again could be enough to tear at the progress Dean and Sam were making in their relationship, but throwing Martin is an added complication, as Dean may be about to feel betrayed by two people now.

“Dean is very conflicted about what he learns, and how Dean deals with that—I really don’t want to get to into where we end up with Dean and Benny, but from Benny’s own back story, how that’s affected Dean, to Sam, to Martin’s own involvement, it’s all very fraught. What happens is fairly significant!” Carver said.

“I can’t promise you that the episode doesn’t end on an emotional point, but I think I can tell you there will be—in the future, to be non-specific—a coming together, where the boys really have to decide once and for all what’s most important to them in their lives, and where they each fit into that.”

Basically, prepare yourselves for one hell of a cliffhanger in “Citizen Fang,” Supernatural fans!

Supernatural airs on Wednesday nights at 9 PM on The CW.

What is your biggest question about Supernatural right now? Sound off in the comments below!

They may not be tiny or tuney, but on Wednesday’s episode, the men of Supernatural certainly were a bit loony — Looney Tunes, that is. The eighth episode of the eighth season dove into the world of animation — first with types of deaths (a heart literally beating out of a man’s chest, an anvil crushing another victim), and then even more literally, transporting characters into the mind’s manipulation.

But what was most interesting about “Hunteri Heroici” was how it played with a mind’s manipulation in other ways. This seemingly stand alone, “off the wall” episode seems to have deeper implications for the overall season’s theme.

Fresh off his new mission, Castiel (Misha Collins) tagged along with Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) as they dodged Mrs. Tran’s calls and instead took on their new case. Two grown man in a cramped, seedy motel room should be bad enough, but add in a third, and dynamics should shift. Oddly, no one thought it was weird that these FBI agents traveled in threes instead of the usual duo partnership — then again, they were looking at some very cartoon-like deaths, so “weird” may have been relative.

The guys stumbled across a series of bank robberies in which the thief was using a black hole to get in and out. Literally. In the cartoon world, a drawing of a black hole on any surface creates a void you can slip right through, but the effects were wider than just on the one man, and while he was exerting his power, anyone within his radius found themselves living in a cartoon until he was finished and out of there. Hence the collateral damage.

All of the robberies were connected to an old folks’ home, and when the Winchesters (and Castiel) visited, they found an old acquaintance of their father and former psychokinetic, Fred Jones (guest star Mike Farrell). He was sick and slipping into his own world — which just happened to feature his personal love of cartoons — and due to his special powers, he was unwittingly projecting his world onto anyone who came semi-near him.

In the case of the robberies, it was the doctor at the home that was taking advantage of the new world Fred was creating. In order to get control of Fred’s mind, Castiel zapped himself and Sam in there — yes, in the man’s mind — to see if they could get through to him. Meanwhile, Dean fought the doctor in a series of quintessential cartoon moments that showed off Ackles’ physical comedy abilities far better than even the multiple deaths of “Mystery Spot.”

While it’s always fun to watch the Winchesters adapt to a new situation (seriously, how the writers come up with plausible things these guys have never seen before is an inspiration in itself), what we enjoyed even more about “Hunteri Heroici” were the tastes of Sam and Castiel’s emotional states.

With Castiel, we saw a forceful though somewhat scared guy who was still so ashamed of his actions when he sucked in all of the Leviathans, he couldn’t bring himself to consider facing Heaven to see the kind of mess he created up there. Instead, he was just determined to keep paying his penance, and he did so twice this episode by healing those he could. He may not have been able to save Fred from declining health, but he was able to zap away enough of his psychokinetics so his “magic” wouldn’t be used to hurt anyone again. And by using his own powers for good, Castiel got his confidence back. Unfortunately, Heaven had another plan for him, and Naomi (Amanda Tapping) told him he could not return unless she called for him.

Additionally, though, we were treated to a little more of Sam’s backstory from the “lost year,” too, in “Hunteri Heroici.” And what was most interesting about it was not that it was a completely apple pie normal situation in which he met his girlfriend’s father, but instead the seriously hazy hue over the scenes. We have seen flashbacks before, and they are always stylized, but this was so much more highly so that we had to wonder if it was because the memory was fading with time — or if it was even a true memory at all. Maybe he was softening the memory in his mind, making it more palatable for himself? After all, he did tell Fred that he knows what it’s like to live in a dream world, and that it never lasts without people getting hurt (a theme we always love to see the show revisit). Are we the only ones questioning his own sanity once again?

Thank you, TV gods.: Finally a bit more of a look inside Sam’s world. It may have been kind of ordinary for a show like this, but it certainly set up a bit more of an understanding for why Sam would leave Amelia behind.

Awk-ward: Castiel has partnered up with Dean and conducted fake police interviews before, but he seems to have not retained any usable skills. After all, even the rest home’s cat was mocking him!

Hotness: Even if he had a weird, open marriage, there’s something really nice about a guy who is so happy to see the girl of his dreams that his heart beats faster — and out of his chest.

Fab-u-lous: All of the cartoon effects were pretty sweet, but our personal favorite was easily the dynamite-candle-in-the-birthday-cake explosion.

Can. Not. Wait.: Though we generally prefer heavy mythology episodes over “case of the week,” it is latter episodes like this that make us eagerly anticipate the next homage standalone — what will it be!?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 8

What was your favorite cartoon moment in “Hunteri Heroici”? Let us know in the comments below!

The CW’s Supernatural knows how to play with different filming styles to create very special episodes. The show has gone black and white; it’s put a new spin on westerns; it’s even flitted back-and-forth between sitcom, cheesy commercial, game show, and melodrama — all on the same episode. But now, Supernatural is diving into Looney Tunes with “Hunteri Heroici.”

On the episode, Castiel (Misha Collins) tells Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) that he’s decided to become a hunter like them. Even though they don’t know what the audience does about the reason Castiel wants to stay so close to them, Sam and Dean aren’t sold on the idea. Still, they agree to investigate a case Cas found where a man’s heart literally burst through his chest. In doing so, they encounter an old hunter friend of their father’s (guest star Mike Farrell) and discover there has been more than one odd murder in the small town — all of which resemble cartoon deaths.

“It’s going to be a bit different,” Ackles told Celebuzz when we were on the Warner Bros. set for the eighth episode of Season 8.

“The great thing with our show is we really haven’t really found where our parameters are yet,” Ackles continued. “You take episodes like ‘Changing Channels’ or you take episodes like ‘The French Mistake’ and you go outside the box. And, yet, we always somehow find a way to bring it back, to make it make sense. This is kind of one of those off-the-wall episodes. It’s not something we’ve done before. When I heard the concept, I was like ‘Really!?’ But, I’ve had that reaction several times on this show, and it’s always worked out.”

For this particular episode, Supernatural taps into the animation world. Rather than create cartoon characters of its stars, though, it creates an animated world aroundthem.

“When Cas comes out of Purgatory, he’s a bit diminished but then seems to regain his powers and can do things that we didn’t previously know he could do, like transport other people into other people’s heads,” Collins previewed for us.

When Sam needs to talk to an old hunter friend of his father’s who has gone a bit off the reservation, Castiel transports them both to the man… by putting them inside the man’s kind of messed up mind. It’s a new kind of adventure for a duo that has never really seen eye-to-eye and now has a little something extra working against them.

As we saw last week, and as Collins put it: “There’s something going on with Cas that neither Cas, nor the brothers know about. Cas is kind of being manipulated behind the scenes, but he’s not aware of it… There are people trying to align themselves with him, but they’re not necessarily genuine allies.”

Supernatural airs on Wednesday nights at 9 PM on The CW.

With Supernatural now bending genres to try animation, what do you want to see them take on next? Let us know your ideas in the comments below

With a couple of characters returning and new pieces of both the backstory and the mythology being parceled out, Supernatural’s “A Little Slice of Kevin” was so chock full of goodness we’re just going to jump right in without any preamble commentary!

The CW Series expertly explored stories that seemed very separate and distinct when they began, but proved to weave together just as perfectly in the end. It all started when Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) started investigating bizarre disappearances, the latest of which was of a five year-old boy during a freak tornado. The victims were all different ages, races and from different cities, but as it would turn out, they all had one all-important thing in common: They were all potential prophets.

Crowley (Mark Sheppard) snatched up the next generation of prophets, because he was still unable to find Kevin (Osric Chau), who was hiding out with Mama Tran (Lauren Tom). But the thing was, he couldn’t “activate” any of their powers until Kevin was dead, for only one prophet could exist at a time. We’re not quite sure what happened to make Kevin the prophet since Chuck was the last one we saw before him. But last we saw, he also snapped himself out as if he was God. As it turned out anyway, Crowley didn’t like any of these potentials and decided just to play harder ball to find Kevin instead.

In order to do so, Crowley used a wannabe witch Mama Tran just happened to find on CraigsList. Not wanting to get comfortable with the hex bag, demon traps, and sigil tatoo protection, Mrs. Tran planned to use this witch to help her make a demon bomb, but
she ended up turning both Trans over to the King of Hell instead. So Crowley threated Mama Tran once again, and Kevin stepped up and took the torture upon himself. Overall, Kevin has proven himself to be a much stronger guy than we ever expected (no offense, but sheltered AP students don’t exactly scream “holds up well under interrogation”), but when Crowley cut off his finger, he immediately gave in and decoded the tablet after all.

This allowed for a major moment in the mythology of this season — and potentially a future one as well — as it turned out that there were many more tablets than anyone had anticipated, and they deal with all sorts of creatures beyond demons. In addition to closing the gates of hell, the Winchesters may have a chance to vanquish every monster they have ever encountered. The idea of ganking every awful thing Dean, Sam, and all of their loved ones have faced? They should be salivating at the thought!

Now, while all of this was going on, Castiel (Misha Collins) was wandering around top-side, keeping an eye on the brothers but keeping his distance, too — at least at first. When he finally did show himself fully, Dean was just left with questions. Seeing the final moments in Purgatory, through Dean’s eyes, was heartbreaking as we learned — and he relived — the moment when Benny (Ty Olsson) brought them to the portal, gave his soul to Dean to ride through to the other side, only for Dean’s hand to slip and lose Castiel before he could pull him through. Suddenly, Dean’s quiet nature upon returning seemed that much heavier: It came with the weight of guilt of dooming a friend. In a complete switch from what we experienced last week, Sam was sympathetic and warm towards his brother, perhaps still in a state of shock over seeing Castiel in front of him again.

Only, those memories weren’t real. Castiel revealed to Dean that he hadn’t dropped him, but he had chosen to drop down and stay in Purgatory to continue repenting.

The best way Castiel could make up for the wrongs he did, though, was to save Kevin — at least, that’s how he seemed to see it in this episode, and he broke into Crowley’s lair, released his old angel wings, and cracked the tablet in half. Kevin wasn’t entirely free — he was being sent to be babysat by Garth (DJ Qualls) — but he was much safer now than at the start of the episode, presumably only to be called upon again when absolutely necessary.

But wait, how did Castiel get out of Purgatory? “A Little Slice of Kevin” didn’t leave you wondering for too long, as Naomi (guest star Amanda Tapping) summoned Castiel to what looked like Heaven’s waiting room to learn that the angels in that part of heaven were who plucked him out. Well, so she claimed. We know angels have lied and manipulated before to get what they want, and she certainly had a huge agenda here. Castiel’s freedom, and renewed power, came with the price of being a double agent: Working with the Winchesters and reporting back to her what they did and how much progress they made. To “help” him not give anything away, he wouldn’t remember his meetings with her, so he could be free to go about life with the Winchesters as usual without them thinking anything was weird.

Exactly what she — or the other angels in her realm — want, we couldn’t guess from this quick cliffhanger. But we wouldn’t be surprised if they are as worried about the tablets as Crowley is. If there are ways to close hell and eliminate Leviathans, we have to imagine there’s something that could wipe angels away, too. Nothing is pure in the world of Supernatural — well, nothing but potentially Purgatory anyway…

Buzz Moments

OMG!: For potential prophets, the majority of the group was pretty weak. Assuming they were abducted by aliens? Come on!

Thank you, TV gods.: This episode in general was just what we needed at this pivotal third of the way through the season mark, and delivering the goods on the mythology without spilling all the beans, coupled with Sam and Dean’s relationship seemingly repaired, gave us a lot of hope for what’s about to unfold next.

Awk-ward: Dean thinking he was having visions of Castiel was one thing (Sam once did that with Jess), but Castiel actually keeping tabs on the boys — so much so that he checked in on them as they slept? A little much. Even for him.

Hotness: Castiel got his mojo back but also proved his sense of humor was back, too, even after slicing and dicing his way through Purgatory. He missed TV the way we miss TV when this show is on hell-atus.

Fab-u-lous: Super Soakers filled with holy water? Best. Weapon. Ever!

Can. Not. Wait.: Is it possible that Dean’s bond with Benny is more than just because of the experience on the Purgatory battlefield but because a little bit of Benny’s soul still lingers in Dean?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 9

What was your favorite moment in “A Little Slice of Kevin”? Let us know in the comments below!

The last time The CW’s Supernatural introduced a character who was presented to Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) as a prophet, he turned out to be so much more. But the Winchesters don’t know how Chuck was actually writing their story, not merely transcribing it, so when they met up with Kevin (Osric Chau), a brand new prophet, they didn’t think much of it.

Now, though, Kevin is arguably the most important key to the Winchesters’ work — and the show’s mythology — though. He holds great power simply by having the ability to read the tablets, on which the Word of God is written. Can Kevin be trusted? And just how challenging will things get for him and his mom (Lauren Tom)?

“I think they’ve showed enough of the story with Kevin to show he isn’t just tied into the lives of the Winchesters,” he told us. “He kind of has his own story going, and it travels parallel with the Winchesters.’ So at this point, and every other point coming up, I don’t see Kevin as being one of those characters [that isn’t being truthful], but they could always change the dimensions of what happens with him. I believe his intentions are true.”

Though Kevin and his mom have been on the run for the last few episodes, it was more about staying safe and under the radar than intentionally avoiding Sam and Dean. With Crowley (Mark Sheppard) out for blood — and having used his mother as a meat suit — Kevin was doing anything he could do so the demon wouldn’t catch back up with them.

“Anyone that you love, whenever you’re in a position of danger, you want to keep them close because you want to protect them,” Chau said. “Obviously, they can get in the way. So, Kevin is struggling with that. He’s struggling with whether Crowley will go back after his mom or not.”

“But his mom is such a strong character, and his [own strength] really does come from her,” he added. “In that sense, he’s not worried about her at all, but he does have a purpose — he does have something that he can do that no one else in the world can, so he has to focus. It’s like he’s studying for an exam; his mom can’t do this thing for him.”

On “A Little Slice of Kevin” Kevin’s mother takes action of her own, by enlisting a witch (guest star Cyrina Fiallo) to concoct a demon bomb. But, when the witch double crosses the Trans, they find themselves in need of a little Winchester intervention.

“This episode in particular is pretty cool, and I quite enjoyed it, because there’s some fun stuff, and the director [Charlie Carner] would actually let us do some longer takes, which was nice,” he said. “We had some scenes where we just ran through the whole thing, and it felt like a stage show. That’s not something you get to do normally.”

“[The situation with the witch] is kind of bringing it back to reality for him,” he continued. “They’re on the run; they’re trying to stay safe from all these demons. You know, he’s kind of getting into this routine, where he’s trying to get back to his old life, in a way of speaking. He’s doing his own thing [from the Winchesters], and his mother is doing her own thing, but maybe it’s not working as well as he hoped.”

Chau also noted that working on Supernatural has challenged him as an actor and allowed him to “constantly learn” from those around him. One of the things he feels he has gotten more comfortable with as a result of the show is watching himself in scenes without nit-picking his performance (he shared that he has weekly Supernatural viewing parties with friends — even for episodes he’s not in). But he has also learned not to anticipate too much from a job or a character, because sometimes — like with the case of Kevin — the writers take the story to a place well beyond his wildest dreams.

“It feels like in each episode he changes so much, and there are different elements of him that we’re getting to explore,” he said. “There are a lot of things that I would have guessed at how it would go, but it’s gone a complete other way.”

“I didn’t think [Kevin] would go this far,” he added. “He’s definitely going through a journey, and it’s not what I expected!’

Supernatural airs on Wednesday nights at 9 PM on The CW. And keep up to date with all of your favorite shows with The CW App… Available free on the Windows Store. Watch Now. Share Now. Get it Now.

Are you liking the developments with Kevin’s character this season on Supernatural? Sound off in the comments below!

Stewing on individual personal strife for weeks before ultimately being forced to confront issues with your brother, that’s the Winchester way, right? At least, it has been every time something major has separated Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) on The CW’s Supernatural — like one of them going to hell, or in Season 8’s case, Purgatory.

For the first portion of the season, Dean kept mum about Benny (Ty Olsson) and Sam about Amelia (Liane Balaban), but recent events required them to put it all out on the table. And on “Southern Comfort,” that’s exactly what they did—while dealing with a double blast from the past.

“Southern Comfort” saw the Winchesters actually addressing many of the thoughts the fans were already rationalizing in their minds — from how or why Benny is different from Amy, to why Dean pulled Benny out, even if they were brothers in arms down in Purgatory.

Wanting to avoid the whole “touchy, feely emotions discussion” (because he’s a man, man, man, man, manly man!), Dean was eager to jump onto a new case, and he found just the one — a bunch of bizarre deaths that all seemed to be revenge-based. It wasn’t something the show hadn’t tackled before (avenging spirits have always been all the rage, after all), but the parallels between the case of the week and the boys’ internal turmoil matched up almost a bit too perfectly.

Here the boys met up with Garth (DJ Qualls) who in Bobby’s absence, stepped up to the plate and became the hub of communication for the hunter community. Unlike those who were killing people they held grudges against, though, Garth was not merely possessed by Bobby’s spirit (though he was wearing the guy’s hat). He was just trying to step up and do right by a man who meant as much to him as he did to Sam and Dean (even if we never saw that side to the story).

Their history was important, and it was a theme that rang true in a broader sense for the episode, because of where the killings were happening: In Missouri, which during Civil War times was split over whether or not the Confederacy should stay.

In some parts, that antiquated flag still hung. And when it came to the case, it turned out a soldier from that war’s spirit was sent loose after his grave was recently vandalized. A memento he left behind (a penny — apparently, they’re not always lucky) had been passed between the killers (you know, as change), allowing the spirit to take them over for a short time and enact revenge over those they felt wronged them.

Naturally, Dean got his hands on it and this took him down a rabbit hole that provided for a perfectly uncomfortable scene in which he pulled his gun on his brother, finally spewing all of the things he is mad at Sam for (even those that were semi-irrational and he should have gotten over years ago — you know, if he had the tools to properly move on from anything). Again, it’s not a sentiment we haven’t seen before from these two, but this time it may have made the most sense of them all.

This new hardened Dean can’t possibly imagine talking about his time “over there” in his day-to-day, which was a notion made even more heartbreaking when we learned Amelia confided in Sam about her own soldier husband’s death. Dean is resigned to believe Sam couldn’t possibly understand what he’s been through — and maybe he can’t firsthand — but he’s sensitive enough to at least give it a shot. After all, hearing Amelia’s story allowed him to understand her behavior, even if it did make him look at her with the sad puppy eyes Dean would reject.

Dean didn’t actually shoot his brother, though they did come to physical blows before Garth stepped in and broke them up — just like Bobby would have. Dean dropped the penny, and his possession was effectively over. But what was just beginning was a new chapter in his relationship with Sam, who Garth reminded Dean is the only real family he has left. Benny hasn’t betrayed him — yet — but if he ever did, Dean would put him down. His bond to Sam is much deeper than that.

As the brothers parted ways with Garth, it was Sam’s turn to unload on Dean, though he didn’t need the penny to do so. He made a strong point in that Dean had been holding so many things inside — so many more than Sam probably even realized — but he kind of ruined the power of his (this time metaphoric) punch when he boasted that some day he may “run into Benny and ice him.” That just made him sound like the jealous third child that he in no way should be.

It was understandable in the sense that after everything Dean unloaded on him while possessed, Sam would want to get a shot in, too, but it doesn’t change the fact that it certainly started the cycle of anger and resentment all over again, and that’s a darker place to leave these boys than Hell and Purgatory combined.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: Garth was actually good at Bobby’s job — who would’ve guessed?

Thank you, TV gods: Someone had to point out to Dean that Bobby belonged “to all of us”— and we believe that includes the fans!

Awk-ward: The people in this town held grudges over the most ridiculous things — taking someone else to prom more than three decades ago and a bad call in a pick-up softball game, really?!

Hotness: A little ectoplasm and a little blood go a long way for the Winchesters. It just means that even when they’re not perfect, they’re still pretty!

Fab-u-lous: OK, Garth can rock the cowboy hat!

Can. Not. Wait.: If the Winchesters aren’t willing to try to be ready… how and when can their relationship be repaired, even if not fully restored?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 8

What did you think of Dean airing his grievances to Sam in “Southern Comfort”? Sound off in the comments below!

Things may have been tense since Sam (Jared Padalecki) announced he gave up the hunting life for the year Dean (Jensen Ackles) was in Purgatory, but now that Sam has met Dean’s secret vampire pal Benny (Ty Olsson), it’s about to get a whole lot more real on The CW drama.

Add that to the fact that the case Dean and Sam work on the next all-new episode, “Southern Comfort,” is one that sees the return of Garth (DJ Qualls) — who seems to be channeling their dearly departed Bobby — and prepare for a whole lot of heart-to-hearts sure to make you and the Winchesters well up.

Because the best parts are still when they cry, right?

While hunting down an “avenging ghost” responsible for a bunch of murders, Sam and Dean, for the first time this season, really have to start dealing with the different courses their lives took last year and where that leaves them now. Sam shares more about his life with Amelia (Liane Balaban), and Dean is going to have to come clean about his reasons for buddying up with Benny. There will be some angry words said, and perhaps even a punch or two pulled. But at the end of the day, they have to see if they’re really still together only out of obligation or if their egos are just temporarily bruised — each one not getting exactly what he wants from the other.

The addition of Garth on “Southern Comfort,” though, will remind Sam and Dean that it’s not all about them. There are other hunters out there, not only affected by these cases but also by the ones they lost along the way– namely Bobby (Jim Beaver). Garth channels Bobby, not out of some kind of weird possession but rather the desire to hold onto his role model and father figure. Bobby was there for so many more people than just the ones we witnessed, and they are still grieving — each in their own individual ways.

Last we saw Garth, he was a fun-loving lightweight with some badass skills. Now he still has the skills — and the nerve needed to chase down this old-timey spirit — but he has a heavy weight on his shoulders. Despite Garth’s new look (a jacket with fringe? Really!?) or his acquiring of calling the boys “Idjits,” “Southern Comfort” doesn’t seem like the typical lighthearted visit with Garth we’ve come to know and love.

We don’t know about you, but we think it’s about time for Bobby to reveal himself again, even if in some kind of weird dream state, to tell his surrogate kids he’s okay and they need to move on before things get even more tragic.

Supernatural airs on Wednesday nights at 9 PM on The CW.

[poll id="9042"]

What are you most looking forward to seeing in “Southern Comfort”? Sound off in the comments below!

Just last week The CW’s Supernatural put its guest stars at the center of the story, and we criticized the show for it. So it may surprise you that using the same strategy, Thursday’s “Blood Brother” actually re-energized our enthusiasm for this eighth season.

Benny (Ty Olsson) may be new, but if he’s going to stick around for any length of time we need to understand where he’s coming from and where he wants to go in order to care about his plight and be invested in how his presence throws a wrench into the Winchesters’ plans.

Kudos are certainly owed to the writer of this episode, Ben Edlund, and the director, Guy Norman Bee, for giving us that and more.

Note: Spoilers ahead Wednesday night’s “Blood Brother”.

“Blood Brother” had Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) detouring once again from the hunt for Kevin and the tablets—but not necessarily by choice. Thwarted by a misleading trail of credit card activity, Kevin was still in the wind, which freed Dean up to help out his Purgatory pal Benny after an attack by some of his old vampire crew. Dean pulled the “you took a whole year; I can take a day” card with Sam and drove a couple of pints of fresh blood out to Benny, who didn’t just need to heal but to gear up for a much bigger fight.

Benny decided he was going to go after his maker, and the bond formed on the battlefield was one too great to resist. Even after Benny admitted to Dean how his nest would feed on an entire yacht of people and then burn the boats, Dean didn’t blink. He cracked a joke, and they moved on with the plan.

See, as it turned out, Benny once fell in love with a woman (and a human one at that) and because of her, he decided to stop his blood-sucking ways. Naturally, though, his “maker” wasn’t as happy for him as he was for himself, so the man who made him was also the man who killed him, sending him to Purgatory in the first place and later turning his girlfriend.

When Dean and Benny turned up at the vampire nest and found this woman there—not murdered as Benny assumed– Benny tapped into the sufficient rage he needed to take out his maker, but Dean had to step in and take out the girlfriend when she proved to be a true monster of a vampire.

It was an interesting flip from last week when he let the werewolf go sight unseen, with no real proof that she hadn’t or wouldn’t kill anything human. This time it was back to business as usual for Dean, even though it was going to hurt his new brother. How Dean’s actions will affect his on-going relationship with his other brother, compared to Sam when he killed Amy, should be interesting all on their own.

Meanwhile, Sam reminisced some more about Amelia (Liane Balaban) until he got a call from Dean to help with a vampire nest. As we learned through flashbacks, Amelia’s disdain for him seemed to be more of a standoffish nature in general. She happened to be holed up in the same cheap housing he was, and they bonded over both being loners, dealing with different kinds of loss, and living just outside of any kind of real connection. We’re still not quite sure we get what he saw in her, other than just wanting someone—anyone—to reach out to, but we’ll probably get there; it’s just a slower burn than the Dean/Benny relationship reveal.

Anyway, in true uncanny timing, Sam showed up to witness Benny’s own vampire side get shut down by Dean when he moved to stop him.

Now, as an audience we have had time to sit with the idea of Dean being friends with a vampire. We have been able to experience the stages of grief that come along with such realization, including inevitable early exclamations that it’s so out of character, it can’t possibly be real. We’ve witnessed enough through Dean’s Purgatory memories to understand, rationalize, and even enjoy the partnership. Benny could never replace Sam, but he was a decent surrogate when Dean had no one else in Purgatory. Sam did not have that time, though, so tonight he was a mixture of all of those emotions—but mostly dumbfoundedness and disappointment, it seemed.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: Dean comes back from Purgatory after a year and claims to have some “personal” stuff to take care of, but Sam doesn’t assume he’s going to spend the night at a strip club? What happened, you guys? You used to know each other so well!

Thank you, TV gods: When Sam heard the weird noise in the motel room, his first instinct was that it could be something supernatural coming after him. His heart may not be in it anymore, but thankfully his gut still is.

Awk-ward: Three was certainly a crowd in Purgatory, as Castiel (Misha Collins) proved to be more of a “magnet” than Dean’s own humanity, causing some sibling-like banter between the angel and the vampire, which put Dean in the dad seat for a change.

Hotness: What is it about revenge that makes men so much more attractive? Before this episode, Benny was just a sinister vampire, but now we understand his damage. And yes, we’re attracted to it. More Benny, please!

Fab-u-lous: Amelia is the only one to see past the big muscles and the hair to actually call out what makes the Winchesters’ (well, Sam’s) lifestyle extremely unsexy.

Can. Not. Wait.: With their relationship newly strained by the Benny reveal, just what will keep Sam riding and fighting alongside Dean, when he knows Amelia is still out there?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 8

Now that you know a bit more about Benny and Amelia, are you looking forward to seeing more of them throughout the season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The center of The CW’s Supernatural — and in every fan’s heart — has always been two brothers who drive the open road, “saving people, hunting things,” but occasionally characters have come in to shake up the dynamic, or even come between Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki).

On season eight, one such character introduced was Benny (Ty Olsson), a vampire Dean met while down in Purgatory, who fought alongside the Winchester brothers and earned his trust so much that Dean pulled him out of Purgatory once he returned topside. The two went their separate ways, but in the next all-new episode, “Blood Brother,” they reunite when Benny finds himself in trouble and Dean rushes to his side.

On paper it may seem like Dean is choosing his makeshift brother over his biological one, but don’t worry Supernatural fans, Olsson assured Celebuzz that Benny is not out to rip apart the Winchester bond in any way; his focus is on finding a way to survive in a world he no longer understands.

Celebuzz: When we were on set, Jensen pointed out that he really enjoys the Benny and Dean story, not only because it’s a different side to his character, but also because he really likes working with you.

Ty Olsson: Well, first I wrote Jensen a very large check to say nice things about me!

CB: How did you guys work on developing the relationship between the characters?

TO: We didn’t discuss their relationship beforehand. We both have been doing this a long time, so we do our homework, and we come together, we know what we’re bringing to the table. The great thing about working with an actor like Jensen is he’s present and available and a giving actor… When you work with someone who’s as good as Jensen is, it just brings your game up. So there wasn’t much of a plan going in, but there has been discussion since. When we hit a pause, we’re like ‘What do you think about this?’

CB: How will we see the connection between Dean and Benny grow as we get to know more about their time in Purgatory?

TO: I think that connection starts off as a brothers in arms connection and relying on each other for survival in Purgatory, but after a year of that, it’s just inevitable that they’re going to get to know each other better and more personally. It’s those moments of high stress, for anybody, and constant [fear of] death that you reach out for another human being and some kind of connection… Obviously a lot of that happened in Purgatory, but now that they’re out of Purgatory and back in the real world, they both have that issue of re-assimilating back into society. There’s also that connection of us both going ‘OK, well, I guess we go back to our lives.’ And how do we deal with that in the real world? It’s not like they can always be hanging out, and you see in [“Blood Brother”] a little bit more of that kind of connection between the characters. We’ll see it deepening.

CB: Do you think Benny is being honest and keeping his nose clean, as Dean warned him to do? Or have there been moments we haven’t seen where he’s slid back into old vampire ways?

TO: I think he is being straight with him. The more interesting storyline, and the way the writers are going, is that Benny is dealing with his hunger and this conflict that he has about not being human but also not fitting into the vampire world. That really heavily shows that turmoil that Benny has. I think Benny’s still in Purgatory. He’s not in heaven; he’s not in hell; he’s lost. He’s still in battle, but he’s in battle with himself, and it’s the hardest one yet because he just doesn’t fit anywhere.

CB: Is a part of Benny just trying to find a way back to the place that he called “pure”?

TO: You know how a lot of people spend [years] in jail, and they’re unable to live on the outside, and they keep going back? There’s certainly a possibility that that’s something he tries to solve his problem with. But I don’t think you can just go back to Purgatory so easily! And I also think there’s a drive in him to try to find a way to connect with the world.

CB: When we first saw Benny and Castiel (Misha Collins) meet in Purgatory, it didn’t go very well. Will Benny ever warm up to him?

TO: I don’t know that ‘warm up’ is the word! [Laughs] I think that need for survival keeps them at odds because of the parameters that they established in earlier scenes in Purgatory. I don’t think that becomes a buddy-buddy situation; I think there’s always a third wheel, and in this case, it rotates.

CB: Is that ‘third wheel analogy’ also how Benny feels about Sam when Dean calls his brother for help on “Blood Brother”?

TO: I think Benny understands the conflict that Dean is going through, regarding letting his brother know. I think Benny’s aware that Dean is torn between his actual brother and his army brother, so to speak, and he doesn’t push too hard on that button because Benny’s smart enough not to get between them. He’s looking for a connection; he’s not looking to disconnect others.

CB: Going forward on the season, how involved will Benny be in helping Dean with cases, like searching for the tablets?

TO: I don’t know anything about that at this point. The episodes coming up with Benny, Benny’s in a situation where he’s focused on his own situation right now, and I don’t know that there’s any room for him to be helping out with anything else. We’ve got some great episodes coming up that talk a lot about where Benny came from and his struggles, and they’re going to tell you a lot about what’s up with Benny.

Supernatural airs Wednesday at 9 PM on The CW.

How do you feel about the addition of Benny this season on Supernatural? Sound off in the comments below!

The CW’s Supernatural stepped out of its comfort zone with “Bitten,” a monster-of-the-week episode that was anything but typical, but the risk didn’t reap a large reward.

“Bitten” began with Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) stumbling upon a blood-painted apartment. Seriously, the place looked like what would happen if you fell on an electric saw… which actually happened to a guy on an older episode. But, they didn’t know whose blood it was. By all accounts, they still had no idea what was really going on in the town in which they were chasing a case. So, they had no choice but to obey when they found the very stagey laptop literally asking to be played. Seriously, it was left there like a prop in a bad horror movie, to which, basically, this episode was paying homage.

Once they sat down with it (sans popcorn unfortunately), the real action of the episode began, with the handheld footage of budding filmmakers named Mike (guest star Brandon W. Jones) and Brian (guest star Leigh Parker) and their new pal Kate (Britni Sheridan).

With no real creative bone in their bodies but too much spare time and a desire to get famous and/or go viral, they started by filming themselves — going to class, scoping girls, talking about other people’s movies, and oddly, calling people asshats. If Mike and Brian were supposed to sub in for Dean and Sam on this episode (and it certainly seemed like that was partially their purpose), then just who was Kate, the girl who was between them the whole time?

Anyway, eventually they stumbled upon Sam and Dean coming into town as FBI agents to investigate the “animal attack.” In sporadic moments, Sam and Dean were seen discussing the case, but the kids really didn’t think much of it at all until Mike got bit himself.

Suddenly, Brian found his purpose in life. Screw making movies; he wanted to be a superhero! He wanted to be strong and tough and out of his friend’s shadow. Hell, he wanted to get the girl! So, he planned to find the thing that bit Mike and entice it to bite him, too. In a way, his desire to take control of his own life was admirable, though completely misguided. Mike was losing control of himself every day, unable to contain the darkness inside him. This would have been a great metaphor — if it were a few seasons ago and Sam was struggling with the decision to give into Lucifer. This time around, though, there weren’t really any stakes for strangers to struggle with the great themes and weight we have seen Sam and Dean take on for years. They were just ill-equipped kids; you had to know how this would turn out, right?

Brian’s footage revealed it was his professor who did the biting, and he took off on his own and blackmailed the guy until he got what he wanted. The professor planned to use Mike as a patsy for his accidental crime — having been “clean” from human hearts for years — but Sam and Dean got to him anyway. He thanked them when they took him down, happy to be rid of the monster he had become, but Mike wasn’t so gracious toward the BFF that thought he “saved” him.

They fought, and since neither of them could control their strength yet, Brian ended up killing Mike. He then bit Kate, convinced it would showcase his love for her, and they could be together, giving all new meaning to the term “super couple.” She wasn’t OK with that, though, and she killed him, too, and took off with their footage.

We knew from the episode opening that Sam and Dean had their footage, but what didn’t make sense was if they killed the Pure Blood — the Alpha of werewolves — why his pack didn’t automatically die (or at least end up magically cured) with him. Those are the rules Supernatural established for vampires, and we assumed the same would be true of werewolves. But, it wasn’t. And in the end, Kate was left alive, though on her own.

We expected bleeding heart Sam to feel for Kate, but we’re inclined to believe the deal Dean made with Benny (Ty Olsson) was the only reason he was willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to allow her to live, too. And we hope it comes back to bite him (oh come on, we had to!). Not necessarily because she’s a werewolf but because she left a trail. Sloppiness and stupidity shouldn’t be rewarded.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: It was just ridiculous that Kate left this video behind — along with her plea to be left alone — at all. She could have just burned the footage and tried to pin her two pals’ murders on the pro! Yes, we know there would have been no episode then, but we would have been fine to skip this repetitive, filler one.

Thank you, TV gods.: At least when the werewolf part of Mike took over, he attacked someone who deserved it.

Awk-ward: It’s Season 8; do we really still need the jokes at the expense of outsiders assuming the brothers are actually a couple?

Hotness: Mike’s super strength gave him Padalecki-sized arms. Before the weird teeth and claws came out, that was pretty nice.

Fab-u-lous: “Clear eyes and clogged arteries, can’t lose” was Dean’s new motto after Purgatory, chomping on two burgers at once. Texas Forever, indeed!

Can. Not. Wait.: Honestly, we just want this show to get back on track with Sam and Dean at the center, chasing the new mythology it so deftly set up in the premiere episode.

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 5

What did you think of Mike, Brian, and Kate’s plights, and were you left feeling satisfied the show turned the tables to show how those Sam and Dean usually encounter live? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The CW’s Supernatural really only has two stars — Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. Sure, they have a small group of regular supporting characters who fans have come to know and love just as much as the boys, though maybe in different ways for many of them. But if you were to remove Sam and Dean from the equation, there’d be no show left to salvage.

A few seasons ago, Supernatural flirted with this concept briefly — first on their special “Ghostfacers” episode, which really put a group of wannabe ghosthunter kids and their hand-held cameras at the center of the story, and then on Season 6 with “Weekend at Bobby’s,” to get a glimpse into one of those beloved supporting characters’ lives when the boys weren’t around. But now, the show is playing with the concept even further on “Bitten.”

On “Bitten,” Sam an Dean are investigating a bizarre murder in a college town. They believe they are closing in on their suspect, only to find two more dead bodies and a laptop cued up to some disturbing video footage, which kick starts the real action of the episode.

This footage begins with Brian (guest star Leigh Parker), Mike (guest star Brandon W. Jones), and Kate (guest star Britni Sheridan) hearing about an unusual animal attack in their town and the rest of the story is revealed through their eyes.

“Brian and Michael are best friends — they go to college together — and Brian is a budding filmmaker trying to figure out what to make his film about,” Parker told Celebuzz.

“They meet Kate, and the three of them sort of become a trio, and there’s a bit of a love triangle that we enjoyed playing with. And some things happen where they hear there was an animal attack. Brian gets really excited by this, because he’s like ‘OK, this is what I can make my movie about!’ There are some deaths in the town, and it starts to get a little bit scary, but Brian is out to document it.”

Naturally with all three characters thrust into the action simply by attempting to observe and record it, all three of them find themselves in danger at any given point, but Parker pointed out this also allows for the bond these three have formed to come out in spades, as well.

“The love for each other — the friendship — and the taking care of each other, that’s what I really enjoyed [most] about the role,” Parker said.

Of course, something else Parker loved was getting to shoot his own footage for the show. No stranger to making short films with his friends, “Bitten” gave Parker a chance to work both behind and in front of the camera on a grander scale than usual.

“I’d say about 90 percent of the episode, the camera was in one of our hands,” Parker said of himself and his co-stars Jones and Sheridan. “Sometimes, there would be two cameras going at once or parts of the episode [have] Brian setting up cameras in different places, stable, and they’re there, filming around the clock, capturing different things… It’s really exciting because you get a lot of different viewpoints.”

But don’t fear, Sam and Dean girls! This may be a Sam and Dean lite episode, but it is not devoid of them completely. Not only did showrunner Jeremy Carversay the episode is “book-ended” by them, but they also pop up in a bunch of Brian’s footage.

“Brian catches Sam and Dean in the background. They hear some of their conversations and actually find a few clues as to what’s going on by overhearing what they’re figuring out about what’s going on,” Parker said of the show’s usual heroes.

This episode of Supernatural is arguably the biggest role Parker has had to date, and it certainly comes with the biggest, most devoted fandom— something which he has already taken note of through Twitter.

“Even since we did the episode, I’ve had people reach out to me on Twitter and say the nicest things,” he said. “It’s really nice, and I’m looking forward to when the episode airs, getting to share that a little bit more with everyone. I have a feeling they’re going to really enjoy it!”

Supernatural airs on The CW on Wednesday nights at 9 PM.

What candid moment do you hope to see Sam and/or Dean caught in on Brian’s cameras? Sound off in the comments below!

To no one’s surprise, Showtime has renewed the Best Drama Emmy winner, Homeland, for Season 3. The show starring Damian Lewis and Claire Danes garnered its best ratings ever last night. Season 2’s fourth episode had a record 1.75 million viewers. Multi-platform stats including DVR and On Demand viewings have increased the total amount of viewers to 5.7 million for its Sept. 30 premiere. Production on Season 3 will begin in Spring 2013. [Showtime]

A familiar face will be showing up on The CW’s Supernatural this season. Actor Jon Gries, who appeared on the Season 5 episode, “Sam, Interrupted,” as Martin Creaser will be back in Season 8’s “Citizen Fang.” Sam (Jared Padalecki) will alsk Martin to keep watch over vampire Benny (Ty Olsson) after there are some mysterious deaths in Benny’s hometown. [Zap2it]

President Barack Obama will be taking a seat on Jay Leno’s couch on Wednesday night. This will be the president’s fifth time on The Tonight Show since taking office. Obama has recently appeared on the Late Show With David Letterman and The Daily Show. The Tonight Show airs on NBC at 11:35 PM. [AP]

Jesse James is teaming up with the Discovery Channel for a new series, Jesse James – Outlaw Garage. The show will feature the bad boy in his new business venture at the Austin Speed Shop in Texas. As part owner of the shop, he will attempt to take his employees to the next level in making their shop the best in the country. The show premieres Monday, Nov. 5 at 10 PM on the Discovery Channel. [Discovery]

Breaking Bad’s Betsy Brandt will pop up on the NBC drama, Parenthood, for one episode. Brandt will play the ex-wife of Ray Romano’s Hank Rizzoli. Hank was last seen kissing Sarah (Lauren Graham) on the emotional show. No airdate has been set for her episode. [TV Guide]

FOX has ordered more episodes of both Raising Hope and New Girl. Raising Hope’s full season will now total 24 episodes instead of the initial 22-episode order. Star Lucas Neff tweeted the announcement. Sophomore comedy New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanelwill also air 24 episodes now. [THR]

The Critics Choice Movie Awards will be broadcast live this year on The CW. Nominees for the 18th annual awards show will be announced Dec. 11. The show will air live from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 at 8 PM. [The CW]

WE TV has given the greenlight to a new original series, Obsessed with the Dress, which gives viewers a peek into former beauty queen Michele Strom’s dress shop, The Winning Crown, where clients shop for the perfect dress which may increase their chance at a crown. WE also announced it has renewed Kendra on Top and L.A. Hair for their second seasons. All three series will premiere in 2013. [WE]

Dance duo, DJ’s Mix – Jaycee, 9 and Dylynn, 10 – have won Disney Channel’s “Make Your Mark: Shake it Up Dance Off.” The duo were chosen from more than 90,000 online dance video submissions and will appear on an upcoming episode of Shake It Up. [Disney Channel]

ABC’s Sunday Night lineup was up in the ratings last night. Once Upon a Time rose to 9.7 million viewers up three tenths of a point in the ad-coveted 18-49 demographic. Meanwhile, Revenge and 666 Park Avenue showed 8 percent and 20 percent climbs respectively. NBC won the night with 15.6 million viewers for Sunday Night Football. CBS’ Sunday lineup, delayed because of football, was down for The Amazing Race and up slightly for The Good Wife. [TV Guide]

Celebuzz Single Player No Autoplay (CORE)
No changes are to be made to this player

It always baffles us when a show as heavily invested in a long arc or larger mythology like Supernatural chooses to switch focus to a “one and done” story. This early into a new season, though, it is slightly less worrisome, though. After all, if Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) can’t make leeway on the biggest issue at hand — which right now is finding Kevin (Osric Chau) — they might as well take on what they know like the backs of their hands, right? And that’s fighting monsters, one week at a time.

The third episode of Supernatural’s eighth season, “Heartache,” was one such “monster of the week” episode, but this one had a special twist: It was directed by series star Ackles himself. Let’s recap the episode and see how he did, shall we?

“Heartache” saw Sam and Dan investigating a murder in which a jogger got his heart ripped out on the running trail. It wasn’t the first time — a similar crime happened in the same area six months earlier, leading Dean to believe it could be ritualistic. To his credit, Sam did point out that they were already on a case and maybe, just maybe should focus on finding the tablets since those could, you know, close the gates of Hell and all. But, Dean was itchy to keep killing whatever he could, and so they set off.

After interviewing a Detective (who just happened to be played by Ackles’ real life father Alan Ackles) they found their first potential witness or potential suspect in a slightly portly jogger who was on the same trail as the murder victim. The audience saw him lap the guy and then rip his heart straight out of his chest, but Sam and Dean only saw an older gentleman trying at all costs (and gross cleanse shakes) to get back into shape, so they turned their attention elsewhere.

It didn’t help that while they were talking to him, another heart-less victim popped up. You can’t be in two places at once and all that. Local cops arrested someone for the second murder. But when Dean and Sam went to talk to him, he was just repeating the same archaic chant over and over… until he stabbed himself in the eye in his cell. It turned out he was actually trying to remove an organ donation he had received, and honestly, if the others had taken the same drastic action, maybe there would have been fewer victims. But, not many are as selfless…

See, the Winchesters found the link between the deaths: Super strength gained through organ transplantation. All of the murderers received organs from the same donor: A star athlete. With a little research (but not until after another victim was claimed — and the audience got a little more insight into the sacrifice when the transplantee consumed the heart she stole), the boys learned that the athlete had actually been a thousand year old Mayan who made a deal to live much longer than should be allowed.

Dean and Sam questioned the athlete’s assumed mother, but the minute they left, the heart-eating woman turned up in her house, talking about keeping his memory alive within them. Her behavior should have been cagey enough to cause concern, but it really wasn’t until they broke back in and ransacked his secret room, pouring over love letters dating back to the 1940s that they got really suspicious. All of the letters were simply directed to a Betsy, signed “Love, Me,” and seemingly from four different men playing four different professional sports — over more than four decades. But Sam “search engined” them and nope — all the same guy.

He had been making sacrifices to the Pagan God who granted him extra life, but he fell in love with a woman who was aging as any human would, and he decided to end it. He wouldn’t have been able to live without her. But when his organs ended up in other people, they, too, had to continue the sacrifices — even if involuntarily, and for some of them, seemingly unknowingly.

We have to point out that the episode reminded us a bit of “Mannequinn 2: The Reckoning,” mostly in the sense that Sam and Dean were once again faced with a living, breathing, innocent person who they would have to kill in order to stop something so much worse. In that one, a kidney transplant from one sister to another allowed a scorned spirit to carry out her revenge. In that one, Sam and Dean didn’t have to “put her down,” because another force took care of it for them.

On “Heartache,” though, the title was literal in the sense that out of everyone who received organs from this Pagan God, the only one who had to be killed in order to make it stop was the one who received the heart. A bit metaphoric if you really think about it, right?

For Sam, his heart over the past year was telling him to try to go back to school — to get a “normal” job to go with his “normal” girlfriend and dog. Dean learned about this by finding a stray email from a university admissions office. But in true Supernatural fashion, they rushed off to finish their case before really getting into it. Wrapping up the episode with a quintessential driving shot, though, Sam finally expressed just how deeply he wanted out — that when they find the tablet, he will be done. Forever. Dean, of course, was sure Sam only felt that way “for now.”

Whether or not that may prove to be true over time, as his memories of Amelia (Liane Balaban) dissipate, right now, his heart over the past year was telling him to want many more years of birthday cakes. Of course, he should want that? Who doesn’t love birthday cake! But for Sam, it seemed to represent something so much deeper. The look on his face when Amelia presented him with one — and what we know about the Christmases the Winchester boys celebrated as kids on the road — implied that a girl getting him a cake and simply saying, “Happy Birthday,” had never happened before. It really is the little things in life.

Sam has just wanted to follow his heart this whole time back to a normal life (as we saw first while he wandered around a farmer’s market with his brother, absently snacking on an apple, and later through flashbacks to his “picnic date” kind of life over the past year). But when the heart is in charge — and allowed to lead decisions — well, bad things happen. Or at least that was our take-away this time.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: Dean had to gank a stripper; more than hell or Purgatory, that seems like it would be his nightmare.

Thank you, TV gods: We just really appreciated the fact that the show knows what we’re thinking and addresses it, rather than tries to ignore it. On this episode, it did that when Sam pointed out the importance of the case they were already on when Dean wanted to take a one-off detour. Granted, he did it because he wants to find the tablet and get back to his so-called normal life, but still.

Awk-ward: The Mayan God was called “Cacao,” which Sam and Dean kept saying was in reference to corn or “maize,” but in every other world, cacao means chocolate. We’re inclined to believe Sam used Bing instead of Google for that one!

Hotness: Whether the reason is because they had a year off from each other or from the stress of hunting in the “normal” way in general, both Sam and Dean are looking extra healthy lately. And of course by “healthy,” we mean “tan.”

Fab-u-lous: The interaction, and pointed looks, between the two Ackles’ as men of varying authority in their one brief scene together was just perfect.

Can. Not. Wait.: Sam has told Dean what he wants even if not quite why; when will Dean return the favor and open up to his brother about what really went down in Purgatory!?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 7

What did you think of this week’s “monster of the week”? Was she worthy of Sam and Dean taking time out of their busy schedules to track down and take care of? Let us know your thoughts on “Heartache” in the comments below.

Supernatural series star Jensen Ackles directed the third episode of Season 8, entitled “Heartache,” which he called “a bit of a one-off.” Now that the episode is finally upon us, Celebuzz has a few tidbits from Ackles about what you need to know before seeing the episode.

For starters, it is a classic Supernatural episode in which “Dean talks Sam into going with him to help some people in need.”

More specifically, though, Dean has come back from Purgatory with a bit of clarity, per Ackles, and better than ever before (yes, even after Hell), he really understands his purpose. He’s a man on a mission, and that mission is to keep saving as many lives as he can.

What was the toughest part of directing again for Ackles?

On “Heartache,” the brothers investigate a string of unusual murders where the victims were all recipients of organs from the same donor. The killer is captured, but things become even more complicated when the brothers find their killer in a trance mumbling an ancient prayer.

“His life is not about smelling the roses. It’s about doing what he does best, cramped up in that car next to his brother, fighting the things that people don’t know about,” Ackles said.

This is the third time Ackles has sat down in the director’s chair for Supernatural, but he still finds it challenging — in the best possible way.

“The stuff with Jared, you know, the scenes in the motel room and things like that, I pretty much just block it out myself, picked my camera shots, and then he and I just go do it. So, I don’t have to worry too much about that,” Ackles admitted.

“It’s scenes with guest stars… who want that affirmation or need that affirmation of ‘Is this right? Am I playing this right?’ that became very difficult, because I’m in the scene with this person,” he continued. “I’m also trying to be Dean. I’m also trying to keep an eye out, so I can give them notes on the performance after they yell ‘Cut.’ ”

One very special guest star Ackles may have been extra nervous to direct this season? His dad! Alan Ackles guest stars on the episode as a detective Dean meets up with on the case.

Supernatural airs Wednesdays at 9 PM on The CW.

What part of “Heartache” has YOU most excited already? Let us know in the comments below!

For seven seasons, The CW’s Supernatural has been a show about two brothers on the road, hunting demons, ghosts, and monsters. They’ve been on their own most of the time, relying on the kindness of other hunters, and one very special angel, only when necessary. They’ve become used to doing their own thing and doing it their way.

But on “What’s Up, Tiger Mommy?,” the Winchesters were tested not only by a new God and powerful forces with infinite wealth but one very badass mama who wasn’t afraid to parent them, too.

Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) have been to hell, stared down the apocalypse, and dealt with endless death, but this was a tough new task for them. For the rest of us, though, it was just an enjoyable new challenge.

“What’s Up, Tiger Mommy” started with a murder in a the safety deposit box area of the bank. Let’s be honest, that alone should have been a tip off that we were about to deal with some very ancient artifacts and the beings that created them. After all, who uses a safety deposit box anymore!? And this particular man held the key to box No. 1, signifying he was as old as the bank system itself. Extracting a bone from that box was not surprising — nor was the fact that it glowed when he touched it. The murder that followed suit of the bank employee was just all in a Supernatural opener. But what it set up was much more important: We would be dealing with many more valuable items before the end of the episode.

Dean and Sam were still on the road with Kevin (Osric Chau), who wanted to check in on his mom. Dean fought the idea, which was admittedly surprising to hear. If there’s anyone who’s the king of mommy issues, it’s Dean. So, he should have understood where Kevin was coming from. Maybe his time in Purgatory really did harden him in ways even we never expected, though. He was convinced Mrs. Tran (guest star Lauren Tom) would be used as Crowley’s (Mark Sheppard) bait, and he was more than OK with just letting her stay at home, a sitting duck pawn in the demon’s game.

Ultimately Kevin won out, though, and it was a good thing because Mrs. Tran wasn’t OK. For one thing, she had been recast. Lauren Tom was now in the role. For another, her son had been gone for a year, so she was “sad.” But more importantly, she had demons surrounding her house, keeping tabs on them for their own king… of the demons. So though Dean had fought it at first, it was Winchesters to the rescue. And just when Mrs. Tran thought her son had been lost to her forever, there he was on her doorstep — dousing her to ensure she wasn’t possessed herself.

She wasn’t, but her friend who had been sitting with her was, and what was curious about Sam’s treatment of the woman was that when a demon tried to expel itself from her, he forced it back into her vessel so Dean could gank it — and the friend by association. Whatever happened to not killing innocent people if you could avoid it, guys!? And should we be worried about just where Sam picked up a ritual for a reverse exorcism? Sam claimed he had been out of the hunting game for the past year, but he seemed to have picked up a new trick without even trying…

Mrs. Tran took the news that her son was a prophet surprisingly well, but maybe she was just happy to learn he hadn’t been wasting time watching television all year. Besides, having a prophet for a son is certainly something she could brag about —and something that would be even better than the honor student bumper stickers she currently touted.

Mrs. Tran also took to going on the road with Sam and Dean a bit better than Kevin. She didn’t even blink when they told her she’d have to get an anti-possession tattoo (after all, it wasn’t her first ink), and she sat through it like a champ while Kevin cried out like a child and squeezed his mommy’s hand. When they tracked the tablet to a pawnshop, Mrs. Tran even managed to get the information out of the guy behind the counter by threatening him with an audit.

It seemed a little too easy that Plutus’ minion ended up tracking them down at their motel, but there was a lot of information to get through in only a short hour episode, so we’ll forgive it. Besides, we imagine this God, like any other, is all knowing and could pop in on Sam and Dean whenever he wanted. Anyway, through him, it was learned that Kevin was requested at the auction.

The tablet may have been the true bait in this instance. Sam and Dean were happy to lead their lamb to this slaughter, assuming if he could get close enough to the tablet, he could memorize the words, and they could just leave. But once they arrived, they learned Crowley was in charge, and Crowley would never be so sloppy. He had the tablet covered in its display case. The only way Kevin could get to it would be to buy it. But being on the run from Crowley, Kevin never even graduated from high school, so what kind of job could he get to pay off such a debt!?

Between the four of them, they had stolen credit cards, about two thousand in cash, and a Costco card — but the payment plan for this kind of auction was in tons of gold (literally), pieces of virgins, famed paintings, Thor’s hammer, states, or souls. That’s what you get when you play with the God of greed and the King of Hell. Dean, of course, wanted to try to just steal the thing, but Crowley had his bases covered and his prized possessions guarded. When the lot didn’t go for what Plutus thought was appropriate, though, he added Kevin himself to the auction lot. Twist!

Naturally, that brought out the mama bear in Mrs. Tran for real. And she offered up her soul. One soul shouldn’t be a match for the millions of souls Crowley offered, right? Well, considering it was all she had, it was weighted much more heavily. So, Crowley had to counter with his own soul. But naturally, he didn’t have one, so Mrs. Tran walked away the winner. If you could call it that.

Of course, Crowley had a trick or two left up his sleeve. After Mrs. Tran rejected the angel Alfie’s (sorry, we just can’t spell his real name) plea to let him protect Kevin instead, her new tattoo was burned from her wrist so Crowley could possess her and walk away with the tablet after all. Kevin must have been so conflicted to just stand back and watch Sam and Dean tackle his mother, and Mrs. Tran… Well, Mrs. Tran is going to have a nasty infection on her arm when all is said and done.

Crowley took off in Mrs. Tran’s body with Dean trailing. Kevin tried to keep up, and Sam took some time out to use Thor’s hammer to kill Plutus’ minion and the safety deposit box murderer. Once Crowley expelled himself from Mrs. Tran, though, he took one last moment to mess with Kevin’s head and then advised him to run from the Winchesters before taking off with the tablet — this time for good. Or, you know, a couple of episodes.

Kevin did push them away so he could talk to his mother alone, but she wasn’t saying anything, stuck in a state of trauma. So he took off with her instead, leaving Sam and Dean in the lurch with just a note. Dean took it quite personally, after what Crowley said to Kevin about people the Winchesters don’t need anymore ending up dead. But really, he took it personally because of what happened to his pal Castiel (Misha Collins) in Purgatory.

Yes, “What’s Up, Tiger Mommy?” also saw a number of flashbacks to Dean’s time in Purgatory but none of Sam’s last year (presumably his turn will come next week). Torturing already mangled souls to get answers on what happened to Castiel turned Dean into the top-notch “bad cop” negotiator we saw him as topside tonight, and it had results on both planes. Hell, he came thiscloseto stabbing Mrs. Tran in throat.

Dean and Castiel were reunited in Purgatory, where Benny (Ty Olsson) flat-out asked Castiel why he left Dean. Dean so desperately wanted to believe that something attacked Castiel, but Castiel, the changed man that he became at the end of Season 7, desiring to repent for all of his sins and taking on Sam’s pain then, still wanted to live by that code of honesty and do-gooder nature. He admitted to Dean that he “ran away” because there was a price on his head, and staying away from Dean meant he could keep the things coming after him away from Dean, too.

Dean didn’t question whether or not this was the whole story. He fell in line behind his buddy’s story and had Benny tell Castiel of the escape plan. Dean needed his brother in arms down in Purgatory; he needed a familiar face standing by his side, ganking whatever came at them; he needed to not leave a man behind. But in the end, we saw Castiel, dirty, grasping, calling out for Dean. But Dean was nowhere in sight.

Buzz Moments

OMG!: Dean tortured in Purgatory just the way he said he did in Hell, only this time, he seemed to enjoy himself and even did it when he didn’t have to.

Thank you, TV gods.: Crowley is back, and we don’t just mean the character returned. After all, he was in the season premiere, too. But on Wednesday’s episode, his witty one-liners returned, and that kind of messing with the boys at the darkest times is what sets this show apart.

Awk-ward: After “rattling around” in Mrs. Tran’s brain, Crowley asks Kevin if he wants to know who is real daddy is. Um, what is it with demons and the delight they take in family secrets!?

Hotness: Castiel looks good with some scruff. Who knew angels could grow facial hair!?

Fab-u-lous: Did anyone else notice how perfectly Sam’s hair seemed to sway in a non-existent wind when he swung that Thor hammer? He is certainly making his case for the remake!

Can. Not. Wait.: Did Dean leave Castiel in Purgatory on purpose, choosing to bring his new brother Benny back instead?

Celebuzz Meter (1-10): 8

How long do you think it will take Crowley to track down Kevin now that he’s without the Winchesters again? Or do you think he’ll just destroy the tablet and move onto the next thing for a little while? Let us know your theories in the comments below!

We are only one episode into Supernatural’s eighth season, but just around the corner is a piece of storytelling that series star Jared Padalecki called “one of my favorite episodes” when Celebuzz visited him on the Vancouver set of the long-running CW series recently.

Just what episode gets such a high honor? Why, none other than the hilariously titled “What’s Up Tiger Mommy?,” of course!

What is Jared Padalecki’s favorite part of “What’s Up Tiger Mommy?”

The episode is pretty heavy on Purgatory flashbacks for Dean (Jensen Ackles), Castiel (Misha Collins), and Benny (Ty Olsson), but the present day story is really what Padalecki enjoyed the most. In it, Dean and Sam are back hunting together again, only this time they are looking for an object, not a demon or vampire or creature.

Having learned just how importantthose tablets are, they track one down — to an auction. Where the price of key items is your soul. But that shouldn’t be a problem, right? After all, Sam spent a whole half a season soulless, and he was a better hunter for it!

Where things get tricky, though, are in the new friends and foes they come up against in the action surrounding the auction.

“Kevin, understandably, is worried about his mother. And while Dean is very much like ‘Hey, forget about it, we have work to do,’ Kevin is resolute. So we go to check on her and when we go to check on her, come to find indeed she’s been kind of compromised, and we have to save her before we get to try to regain possession of the tablet,” Padalecki previewed.

“We find ourselves in a situation where we’re heavily out-gunned and out-numbered,” he continued. “We’re dealing with gods and monsters and people who have infinite wealth, and we kind of have nothing to use but our wits.”

Padalecki pointed out that despite dealing with a new God — Plutus — it’s one of the series’ more fun, lighthearted episodes that puts the boys in some funny situations where they’re not quite fish out of water (because really, can’t they handle anything at this point!?) but are still uncomfortable with their surroundings. Who doesn’t love that?

“There’s a tiger mommy forced upon us,” Padalecki explained. “We find ourselves in a situation where we’re like ‘We don’t want to buckle our seatbelt! Just chill out and let us do what we do. We know what we’re doing!’ But, there’s some nice hijinks.”

Supernatural airs on The CW on Wednesday nights at 9 PM.

What do you think of the new Mrs. Tran? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!